Porcelain
by xxCindaxx
Summary: [Sasori] Hair as dark as midnight, eyes as pale as transparent emerald, skin as smooth as porcelain. With the Sungakure elders knowing her every move and keeping a close eye on her, it has occurred to Sasori that Eirin wasn't just a normal civilian. But what could she be hiding, that even she doesn't know?
1. Puppet 1

Porcelain

Puppet #1

* * *

She ran. Her lungs burned in her chest and her breath was short, raspy gasps. Her feet tapped quickly and lightly on the dusty stone pavement. The young 7 year old female glanced over her shoulder. Her pale green eyes caught sight of a looming shadow, moving rather awkwardly as it manoeuvred through the obstacles to get to her.

 _Crap…!_ She cursed inwardly and looked around.

It was dark. The moonlight only gave her the outlines of buildings and objects, but it didn't help her find a way to get out of the situation she was currently in.

 _Where…?! Where can I go?!_ She was panicking.

"GET…BACK…HERE!"

The female winced at the drunken voice. She pressed her lips together and tried to hurry her step, but nearly tripped when she heard glass shatter. An empty bottle of alcohol had been thrown and it hit the wall just inches beside her.

Mentally, she knew that once they caught her, it would be over. For running away, it would be her punishment.

 _I got to find somewhere to hide! Anywhere!_

She was desperate. She jumped onto a few crates and sloppily climbed onto the roof of a random house. Carefully treading, her feet moved her to a balcony that was open and at a higher level than the roof.

Looking back to make sure that her pursuer didn't see, she went in.

It was silent. The area was dark and the only light was the reflection of the moonlight that illuminated the doorway. She could hear the loud voice of the person who had chased her, shouting for her to come out of hiding. Her back pressed against a wall and she turned her head to the doorway. Her medium length black hair stuck to her face as it glistened with sweat.

Her short breaths eventually became slower until it was normal. The voice had died down, as if the person had given up. She closed her eyes and slid down the wall until she hit the ground, holding her head in her hands.

 _That was close…_

The lights flicked on. Her pale green eyes flicked open immediately and met with a person in the room.

 _Wait…_

Her eyes widened slightly when she realised that it wasn't a person she was looking at, but rather, a puppet. And it wasn't just one puppet. There were about three.

"Who are you?"

Jerking her head to the voice, she felt nervous at the encounter. It was only a red haired boy. He looked younger than her, but his grey brown eyes were impassive and held a lack of interest in anything as well as a maturity she didn't see in most adults.

Seeing how she had clammed up, the boy's hand dropped to his side as he examined the person who had intruded his room.

Her medium length hair was as dark as midnight, contrasting strongly against her incredibly porcelain-like features, which was quite uncommon in Sunagakure. Her clothes were dirty and some parts were freshly ripped. Her arms and legs were slightly bruised and cut, the purple standing out like the moon in the sky. Lastly, he met her incredibly pale green eyes. They were so pale that it felt like they could look straight into his soul and find out every secret he hid. That, in itself, was also very uncommon in Suna.

"I don't like repeating myself." The red head narrowed his eyes slightly as he came forward a few more steps.

Pressing up against the wall slightly, her hands curled into a fist. The boy didn't sound like one at all! His voice was a lot deeper than she had thought.

"COME BACK HERE, YOU SHITTY MIDGET!"

She jumped at the close proximity of the voice. It belonged to her pursuer. They hadn't given up yet. She could feel cold sweat drip from her chin as dread filled her.

The red head shuffled to the doorway and closed it, muttering something incoherent under his breath. He glanced down at the female expectantly.

The girl gulped thickly and looked down, away from his piercing gaze. In the background, the chaser's voice could still be heard, but muffled.

"…Eirin." She didn't think she was going to get out of the situation. The boy hadn't sold her out yet so she decided to tell him what he wanted to know.

The boy merely looked at her for a moment, before he turned around and left the room. Eirin just stared at the empty room.

 _What just happened?_

No longer than a minute later, the red head came back with a box. He placed it down beside her and sat down, opening it to reveal medical supplies.

"What…" Eirin's mouth opened in shock.

She watched as the boy took out a few bottles and cotton balls. He soaked them and pressed them to her face, making her wince and flinch away from him.

"Don't move." He continued to press the cotton ball to her face.

"But it burns…" Her eyes watered and the boy stopped for a brief moment, before continuing. Once he was finished, he cleaned up her face and stuck a bandage on it, before proceeding to her other cuts. Once he finished, he left with the supplies.

 _He helped me…_

Eirin was at a loss for words. The job was easily done, and she was bandaged up and her wounds were cleaned.

 _When did I get this many wounds…?_

As the door creaked open, the boy came back in. He had the same impassive look on his face as before.

Eirin stood up and dusted herself off, bowing her head to the boy in front of her. "Thank you very much for treating my wounds and not selling me out!"

"You're not a ninja, are you?" The boy questioned.

Eirin returned to her full height and shook her head. She had decided that she would tell him what he wanted to know, since he was kind enough to treat her wounds. "No, I'm not."

"Is that why you're running away from that person who shouts at you?" He asked bluntly. He had pieced two and two together.

Eirin's eyes widened and she fidgeted slightly, before nodding. Her gaze landed on a shiny forehead protector with Sunagakure's symbol on it.

 _So he's a ninja…_

Seeing her eyes wandering, the boy nods his head. "Yes."

It was silent for a long while. Eirin fidgeted with her fingers, biting the bottom of her lip in nervousness. She didn't want to ask him of anything, since she was the 'guest' (who had intruded on him).

"What?" The boy asked. He could tell she wanted to ask him something.

"Uhm…What's…what's your name?" Her voice was a higher octave than normal. She instantly shut her mouth after finishing her sentence. She didn't want to further embarrass herself.

"Sasori." The red head replied.

"Sasori…" Eirin familiarised herself with his name and mumbled it quietly under her breath. Unknown to her, he could hear every word she said.

"Are you leaving?" Sasori asked suddenly.

"Uhm, uh, yes, uh…yeah!" Eirin nodded her head and she went towards the door to the balcony. Her hand shook as she thought of the situation outside. How would she cope?

"With that drunk running around?" His eyebrow raised slightly.

Eirin swallowed and nodded her head, trying to put on a brave smile. Sasori could see right through it.

 _This girl isn't convincing at all._ He thought bluntly. _Who's she trying to fool?_

"If you want to stay for the night until morning, it's fine." Sasori flicked off the lights and walked to his bed.

He knew that she wasn't a ninja. If she tried anything, he would be able to stop her. Any Genin would be able to.

Eirin just stood there, completely perplexed. After a long while of just standing there and gaping at the sleeping figure, she peered out the window on the side to check if that person was still running around. Once she saw and heard nobody but the soft breaths of the sleeping boy, she closed the door and sat down where she was before, up against the wall. Her eyes closed and she leaned on the low closet that was next to her.

Sasori sat up after hearing her breathing becomes steady. He slipped out of bed slowly and went to his cupboard, taking out a spare blanket. He unfolded it and threw it over the female, before going back to bed again.

 _So this is the girl_ they're _keeping an eye on._


	2. Puppet 2

Porcelain

Puppet #2

* * *

Eirin opened her eyes to see a semi-brightly lit room. She squinted her pale green eyes. They adjusted to the brightness of the room. The room itself was quite bland, but there were a few puppets here and there in various sizes. They were made from a wood that shone softly in the light.

"Puppets…?" She questioned in a whispery voice.

 _Since when were they here…? Wait a minute…_

"Oh, you're awake." A bored voice drawled. It was a young boy's voice, one that she'd heard before.

Blinking furiously and sitting up straighter, the young female looked at her surroundings with full attention. The voice had come from right in front of her.

"Sasori...?" His name slipped out of her mouth when she saw his red hair.

Sasori just stared at her with his grey-brown eyes. He had the first aid box in his hands, the one he had used the night before, and he seemed to be waiting expectantly for her.

"Good…morning…" Eirin nodded her head shyly towards him.

Sasori just gave her a nod of the head, proceeding to kneel down and open the box. "I'm just changing your bandages."

Eirin chewed on her bottom lip. She wasn't sure why this boy was being so nice. She was a stranger; for all he knew, she could have been an assassin out to kill him.

As Sasori replaced the old bandages with new ones, there was a knock on the door, followed by a light creak when it opened. It alerted the female getting treated.

"Sasori," The voice was of a woman. A head popped into the room. It was a middle-aged woman, with purple hair on both sides of her face and in a bun. Her dark eyes scanned the room to find Sasori, seeing his back to her. He had turned around a little to greet his grandmother. What shocked the grandmother, was the other female. "Eirin…!" Her mouth moved on its own accord and her name flowed out in a croaked whisper.

Sasori turned back to Eirin. Eirin just stared with wide green eyes at the middle-aged woman, having no idea what to say. How did she know her? She's never met her in her entire life!

"H-How do you know me…?" Eirin whispered.

"Grandmother...it's difficult to fix humans than it is to fix puppets." Sasori spoke gently.

"Sasori…do you have any idea who this child is…?" Chiyo side stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, taking a few steps forward. Her voice held incredulity.

Sasori raised his brows, turning to his grandmother. He was silent, waiting for her to continue.

Chiyo decided to remain quiet. She didn't speak a word, glancing at the pale girl against the wall. What was she to do?

Eirin felt unnerved about the encounter. Somehow, the middle-aged woman knew her, but she herself didn't know who that woman was.

"Eirin, my name is Chiyo. You can just call me Granny." Chiyo took another step forward and offered a smile, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

In response, the girl gave a small smile.

Sasori fixed the last of her bandages and closed the first aid box, standing up. He left the room quietly, leaving the Granny and Eirin there.

Chiyo looked around the room for the hundredth time – trying to find something to talk about. The girl in front of her wasn't someone that looked like she would start talking because there was another presence.

"…Eirin, do you like puppets?" Chiyo's eyes skimmed over a few of Sasori's puppets.

"Puppets…?" Eirin repeated. She glanced at the puppets around the room. "I like puppets…but I've never had one."

"Would you like to try and use one?" Chiyo offered.

Sasori re-entered the room and arched a brow. Chiyo was talking about puppets again; her profession. She had also taught him how to use puppets.

"…use a puppet…?" Eirin's mouth opened in surprise. "How do you use one?" She felt a little excited.

Sasori blinked. She had a bright look in her eyes, as if she had discovered something new, like a kid in a sandpit trying to find a coin. It was a different side to what he had seen before.

Chiyo turned to Sasori, "Do you mind if we use one of your puppets?"

"Go ahead." Sasori just watched as his grandmother used her chakra strings to bring down a small puppet that was easy to move. All the while, he stared at Eirin's distinctive reactions to puppets.

Her lips would curl into a smile that expressed happiness to more than a mere level of 'just happy'. She was excitable and whatever Chiyo did, she wanted to see more. It was as if she hadn't seen a puppet before in her life.

"Sasori, why don't you join us?" Chiyo suggested.

Sasori sauntered to the duo and joined in. He had fun when he played with his puppets, but not as much as before. Like his grandmother, he reached for one of his puppets and brought it down with his own chakra strings.

"You can do that, too?!" Eirin grinned and looked like she was ready to jump out of her seat.

"…you really like puppets, don't you?" Sasori questioned. It was almost a rhetorical question; the answer was right in front of him.

"Yes! Puppets are very cute!" Eirin nodded her head fervently.

' _Cute'_ … _?_ Sasori deadpanned.

Chiyo watched as Sasori and Eirin exchanged conversation about puppets – it made her happy that a thing she introduced to both of them was the joining factor between them. A smile graced her features.

 _They would become good friends._

"Why don't you come again sometime so that we can all play with puppets?" Chiyo recommended.

Eirin's pale green eyes lit up and she was about to nod, but then realised that she might not be able to. Her hesitation was also because of not wanting to take advantage of someone else's kindness.

She was young, but she was forced to mature.

"…I, I'm not sure…is it really okay?" She questioned.

"Yes, it's fine." Chiyo nodded.

 _Then I can keep an eye on you._

Eirin stared at the floor, but then her eyes found Sasori. The puppet he was holding was nodding and moving its arms around strangely. Sasori had an impassive face, but he briefly tilted his head.

"If you're okay with it…then okay…" Eirin grinned.

"That's wonderful, Eirin." Chiyo smiled at her.

"EIRIN! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Eirin jumped with a sudden jolt, surprised. She sighed at the recognition of the voice. Her guardian. Sparing a glance at the puppeteers, she pressed her lips into a thin line.

"I'll see you soon…?" Although posed as a question, it didn't need a response.

"Stay safe, Eirin." Chiyo and Sasori both stood up and bid the girl goodbye as she jumped off the balcony and onto rooves that weren't too far down.

When she was gone, Chiyo laughed, "She's not a ninja but she can do that..."

Sasori glanced sideways to his relative. "Grandmother…why do you keep an eye on her?"

Chiyo abruptly stopped and she stared at her grandson in surprise. Sasori was staring at her, waiting for an answer. He reminded her of her son, his father, that had passed away in a battle against Konoha.

" _Eirin_ …it's all in the name."

" _Eirin_? 'Eternal Jewel'?" Sasori questioned.

Chiyo just gave him a smile and exited the room, telling him that he should get ready for his missions.

The red head didn't know whether or not Chiyo was making a joke; did they keep an eye on her because she was precious? What was so special about this girl?

Sasori's eyes found Eirin and her parent down below. They were in clear view. His brow arched when he found that her parent didn't have the same porcelain skin and dark hair she possessed. He dismissed it as an unimportant feature and changed to his ninja wear.

When he looked back out the window, he noticed someone in the shadows between the houses, following after the duo. He couldn't see the person's face, but he saw the glint of an empty bottle. Sasori just watched with interest. What business could they have with them?

Once the person stepped out of the shadows, Sasori immediately knew who it was. It was the man that had been screaming out Eirin's name and chasing her the night before.

 _What exactly was he doing there?_ Sasori wondered. _Does he plan to kill them?_

He saw the ignorant looks of the duo and sighed inwardly. Jumping down from his balcony quickly and swiftly, he landed not too far away so that he could see both the man and Eirin's family.

 _Why am I even doing this?_ Sasori mulled over the thought. Why did he?

He heard the man's string of swears aimed at the people he followed. His voice not only got louder, but alerted the people around, including the duo. Once Eirin looked over her shoulder, she broke out in cold sweat at the sight of the man. Taking a step back, her legs shook. Eirin's guardian took her hand and guided her away from the man, giving him a cold glare.

"Get away from my daughter!" She seethed venomously.

"You…little…wench…" The man stumbled over his step but caught himself on the nearby wall. His grip on the bottle neck was so tight that his knuckles were white. His expression was filled with anger.

Sasori extended his hand and let his chakra mould into strings. He attached them to the arm of the man that held the bottle, restricting his movements. Noticing something had attached to him, the angry man saw blue chakra strings and growled lowly, seeing where they came from. He tried to pull them off, but to no avail.

"That won't work." Sasori said calmly. He pulled the strings into a different direction, taking the man along with it and making him fall face first into the ground. The bottle didn't break, however, as Sasori had snatched it with the strings from his other hand, placing it on the side, far away from him.

"Sasori…!" Eirin gasped. Her hands clenched her mother's.

He spared her one glance before turning his attention back to the fallen man. That man, like before, was swearing every single second he was talking. He insulted Sasori many times, but the boy was unfazed.

"Mother…he's being mean to Sasori!" Eirin frowned. Anger started bubbling inside of her – how dare someone insult him?!

"Dear, calm down." Her mother's voice was on edge, but she managed to reassuringly squeeze her hand.

"But…" Eirin protested, but a warning look from her mother caused her to stop talking.

"Are you done?" Sasori asked with boredom. He had tuned out the man completely. He wasn't even worth his time.

As if asking for a fight, the fallen man stood back up and decided to charge at the young Genin, climbing up the roof ever so slowly. Due to the loudness of his talking and swearing, Jonin from nearby had heard the commotion and were arriving at the scene, seeing the man up to no good. He had already climbed up the roof to challenge Sasori, but was taken down in a swift move with a hit to the back of the neck. The Jonin that had arrived carried the man on his side, asking Sasori to be careful, and that the civilians should go back to work. The Jonin saw Eirin and his eyes narrowed. He looked to Sasori, who only gave him a blank stare. Chewing the inside of his cheek, the Jonin went away.

Eirin stared up at Sasori, who was looking away. "Thank you Sasori!" She said it a little louder than talking volume. She bowed her head slightly.

Sasori's eyes flickered to her, before he turned to another location.

"Let's go." Eirin's parent tugged her arm in the direction they were going previously. Eirin followed after her, looking over her shoulder to see if she could spot the red head.

But, he had disappeared.


	3. Puppet 3

Porcelain

Puppet #3

* * *

"That girl…" Chiyo shook her head and sighed deeply.

"What is it, sis?" Ebizo, Chiyo's younger brother, questioned.

"Recently she's been targeted by that thug down in the streets." The middle-aged woman shook her head yet again. "That Jonin that came by told me."

"Sister…are you talking about Eirin?"

"Eirin, indeed. Thankfully, my grandson was there to help out."

"Sasori…was it?"

"What to do…what to do…" Chiyo was muttering to herself, trying to find a solution to the situation she found herself in. Although not directly related, it was something to think about.

"Sister, you're talking to yourself again…"

"Shush, Ebizo."

* * *

"Eirin, what were you doing, not coming home?! And to top it off, you were even staying at someone else's!" Her mother closed the door quietly and ran a hand through her blonde hair stressfully. Her golden coloured eyes were laced with slight anger and partial worry.

"B-But, m-mother…" Eirin stammered. She normally didn't talk back to her mother in arguments, but she had a good reason to, this time.

"Now, no excuses! I told you again and again not to leave the house at night!" Her mother's words were stressed and expressed tiredness.

"I-I'm sorry…" Eirin's eyes watered and the tears threatened to fall. She didn't like getting scolded. She didn't want to get into any trouble.

Seeing her child like this, the woman calmed herself down with deep breaths and a long pause. "Eirin, it's dangerous out at night. People just like that guy before, who knows your face, will try to kill you."

Eirin looked up to meet her mother's eyes. Her own green ones held confusion. "Mother, but I don't know how he knows me…I don't even know him." It was true. Eirin had encountered that man after he had surprised her when she was coming back from another place. He looked like he knew her, too, but she had no idea why.

The blonde woman pressed her lips into a thin line and cast her gaze to the side. "He was one of my former clients that I had to escort."

"Oh yeah…mother's a ninja, so you had to take him to places outside, right?"

"That's right. He was…infatuated with me, and I guess when he found out that I already had a daughter, he became jealous and wanted to take you away." Half-way through her sentence, she knelt down so that she was eye level with her daughter. She brushed a stray hair behind her ear. Eirin blushed at the action – she hadn't gotten used to it.

"But…I don't understand…if he likes mother then why does he want to hurt me?" Eirin questioned innocently.

Her mother shook her head and rested her hand on the child's shoulder. "It's too soon for you to find out."

"O-okay…" Eirin nodded her head slowly. She was a little disappointed that she didn't get an answer, but in the end, she knew her mother meant her well when she didn't answer.

"Alright, sweetie, now I just want to ask, what were you doing? To get all these bruises and cuts?" Her mother's voice was concerned as she inspected the damage. Last time she saw her daughter, they weren't there. "What exactly happened to you? Did it hurt?"

"I didn't cry, mother! It hurt, but I didn't want to cry…because mother is strong and she doesn't cry, so…" Eirin's small hands clenched the bottom of her shirt.

"Yes, Eirin, you're strong. But how did you get these?"

"I was running away from that person who liked mother," Eirin stared at the ground to try and remember the events of that night, "But I kept falling over and bumping into things…but that person didn't catch up to me! I was too fast for him."

"Who did your bandages?"

"Sasori did! He's a really nice boy. He helped me hide from that man." Eirin grinned, showing her baby teeth.

"Sasori?" The woman's golden eyes widened. _Does she mean Elder Chiyo's grandson?_ "Is he the one with red hair?"

"Ah! Mother, have you met him before?" Eirin emanated happiness. Her mother just blinked at the reaction. She nodded her head and gave a small smile.

"Yes, I have. He's…an interesting boy." She concluded.

"He knows how to play with puppets and, and, and puppets are really cool!" Eirin's beamed. She looked even happier than before, all traces of sadness or disappointment gone.

Quirking a brow, the older woman held the smile.

Her eyes scanned where the bandages were. There were a few patches here and there, but what stood out to her was the large bandage around her leg. Her eyes narrowed slightly (unnoticed by Eirin).

 _How could she get so many cuts even though she only tripped over and bumped into things? Things aren't that sharp to bump into…_

There was a loud knock on the door.

"Hana, are you there?" The voice was a male voice.

The mother, Hana, stood up and made her way to the door. "Yes? What is it?" She opened it to reveal the Jonin Eirin had seen before that had took the bad guy away.

They spoke in hushed whispers that Eirin couldn't hear. She just stared at them silently, waiting for them to finish.

"…Alright, that's fine. I'm counting on you!" Hana nodded her head and the Jonin left.

"Mother, what was that?" Eirin asked.

"It was just one of my friends. We discussed something that shouldn't be that important to you, so don't worry about it!" Hana smiled.

"Okay…" The young child nodded a few times, taking what her mother said on board.

"Oh, that reminds me, he also told me that Granny Chiyo wants to see you in a few days' time. He said it was something about playing with puppets." Hana rubbed her neck.

"Puppets?!" Eirin lit up like a lightbulb. It surprised her mother.

"O-Oi…you don't need to be so excited about it!" She laughed.

"But…puppets…!" The kid was bursting with excitement.

"Yes, darling; puppets."

* * *

Hana helped her only daughter to remove and replace her bandages. She did them carefully and inspected each wound. She was hoping to find nothing wrong with those wounds, but that was a hope that couldn't be fulfilled.

"Mother, what's wrong?" Eirin asked. Her mother was staring at the wound on her arm for a long moment, her face slightly paling.

"…nothing. It's…nothing, Eirin." Hana spoke.

Her golden eyes trained onto that wound, seeing the sharpness that had cut it. She knew – it wasn't just an ordinary cut. It was way too clean and precise to be a wound 'inflicted by a sharp edge via bumping into things or tripping over'. She had seen the wound in battle many times before. She would know if it was accidental or not. The cut was from a kunai. It wasn't poisoned at all, which was a relief.

She moved to Eirin's injured leg. Other than the burn of ground against skin, there was a wound similar in appearance to her previous one, except the ridges were a little different.

 _Shuriken,_ Hana thought bitterly. _I don't know who it is, but they're targeting this child._

She questioned herself; when did they inflict it on her?

 _It must have been when she was running away from that crazed client of mine…that is the only way. How else could they trick her into thinking that she got hurt whilst running away? They're smart ones._

"There, all done!" Hana finished off the last touches and tucked her child into bed. She kissed her forehead and flicked off the lights, making sure everything was safely closed and secured. She left the door open as Eirin always requested.

Once Hana heard the steady breathing of Eirin inside the room, she sighed very deeply, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples.

 _This proved harder than I thought._


	4. Puppet 4

Porcelain

Puppet #4

* * *

"Granny Chiyo!" Eirin waved at the woman frantically. "Sasori!"

"Eirin?" Chiyo squinted and grinned, giving the child a small wave.

Beside her, Sasori stood in his Genin gear. He had an impassive expression on, as always, and nodded his head in a greeting. "Eirin."

Out of breath, the young female grinned when she ran up to the two of them. Hana was behind Eirin, watching the whole scene unfold.

"Hana." Chiyo nodded once at the Jonin. Hana bowed her head in respect.

"Chiyo-sama."

Chiyo patted Eirin on the shoulder, "Eirin, I have something to discuss with your mother about. Talk to Sasori, won't you?" She smiled and headed to Hana's direction.

The volume of their voice was a lot quieter. Hana spoke first, "You wanted to speak with me, Chiyo-sama?"

"Yes. I wanted to say that they've been dispatched. Don't worry, Eirin will be safe. Suna nin are quite capable." The older woman laughed merrily.

Hana wasn't sure of what to say. She nodded once, but almost reluctantly. "Thank you, Chiyo-sama. I trust they're able to do their job."

"…the only thing we can do is get them away from this village." Chiyo spoke these words quietly. "We can't leave Eirin unsupervised. She isn't even a shinobi."

There was an undecipherable expression on Hana's face as she stared at the woman.

"…understood, Chiyo-sama." Hana bowed her head yet again and went off to tend to her duties.

Chiyo focused her attention back to her grandchild and Eirin. She wanted to laugh when she saw Eirin staring at the puppet Sasori had taken out, with the biggest, shiniest eyes. She looked like she had sparkles around her. Sasori was controlling the puppet to entertain her, but once he caught wind of what her expression was, his normally impassive expression changed to one that looked a little disturbed.

 _How can somebody be this happy seeing puppets?_ He tried to ignore the look that Eirin was giving him and the puppet. It made him feel somewhat awkward.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Chiyo smiled. She hid a snicker by clenching her teeth.

Inwardly, Sasori breathed a sigh of relief. Eirin's attention had averted to Chiyo's and he was able to return the puppet into the scroll. His tense body relaxed.

 _That was suffocating._

"Granny Chiyo!" Eirin grinned. "Are we going to look at puppets today?"

Chiyo thought for a moment. "Ah, I could show you how to _make_ a puppet!" She grinned.

"Make a puppet?" Instantly, the spark in the young female's eyes was relit and she excitedly jumped up and down, forcing the red head to stare at her with the same slightly disturbed expression as before. "Yes! How do you make one, how do you make one?!" The enthusiasm made Chiyo feel young again, but she found that Eirin's brightness was too bright. She could probably light up a city if the lights were powered by happiness.

Sasori honestly didn't know what to say. Her happiness was scary. He had never seen somebody this happy before.

As they went off to Chiyo's 'secret location' to make puppets, the Jonin that had helped Eirin before; his name was Yuno, was on lookout duty to watch for any suspicious behaviour in the city.

"Any suspicious behaviour?" Hana jumped to where he stood. She was on guard duty as well, but stationed at a different post.

"Nothing yet." Yuno updated.

With a curt nod, Hana went to her post. She spotted the red head, Chiyo and Eirin making their way towards the main building. Her daughter was laughing and smiling, which put her heart at ease.

* * *

"What's this?" Eirin tilted her head as she stared at the empty shell of the body of a puppet. It was made of a wood that was very light in colour. Had Chiyo not told her that everything was made of wood, she would've thought it was ceramic.

"That's an unfinished piece, Eirin." Chiyo grinned. She went over to where Eirin stood and took the piece from its spot, placing it on a large table that had a numerous number of equipment.

"Okay, Eirin, so…" Chiyo started to explain the mechanisms of how puppets work and how to make them. She was absorbed in the world of puppetry.

Sasori decided to do his own thing. His grandmother's 'puppet lab' as she put it, was also a place that Sasori could work. After all, he's been there more than he can count the number of citizens in the village.

He was completely ignored by the females when he began rummaging through the shelf, trying to find the formulas for making poisons. He had recently just begun making them and experimented often. He was young, but he was a genius.

 _Hm…this poison shouldn't be stored like that._ Sasori changed the poison's container for a specific poison – it was the most lethal one that he had made, so he kept it under wraps – to a more tightly secured one. There was a small amount, but it was enough to kill a person.

"Sasori, are you playing with water?" Eirin asked.

The red head didn't flinch and closed the lid to the container. He turned to the female, "No. It's a poison. It'll kill you if you drink it."

Eirin cringed at the thought. She gulped and nodded, taking a small step away from him.

Sasori noticed and wanted to roll his eyes. "I have an antidote. The poison won't kill you if you use the antidote."

The young female took another step forward, but this time, she wasn't scared. She was curious. "Why are there poisons here?" She questioned.

It puzzled her that there was. Granny Chiyo had said that it was a lab for puppetry – so why the poisons?

"Silly Eirin." Sasori chuckled. She was an ignorant one. "Poisons are used with puppets for battle."

"Battle? You can battle with puppets?" Her expression was funny.

Sasori suddenly felt like smashing his head into a wall. How ignorant could she be?!

"…yes." The red head sighed gently.

Eirin noticed that he looked a little irritated. His brows were slightly furrowed. She decided to change the topic. "What's this poison called?"

"…I haven't named it yet." Sasori shook his head. He didn't think of giving it a name.

"Why don't you name it L1?" Eirin suggested.

"L1?" The young puppeteer enquired. "Why L1?"

"L for _lethal_ and 1 for being…" She paused, "Is that the most poisonous?"

"Yes."

"Then 1 is for being the most poisonous! That's why, L1!" She grinned.

Sasori didn't know what to say as he just stared at her with the same impassive expression. In the end, he turned to get sticker paper, writing L1 on it before sticking it to the container.

"What are you doing, Sasori?" Eirin questioned.

"Naming them." He replied. "That way, you don't confuse them for water and start drinking them."

A look of realisation hit Eirin's face as she nodded fervently. "Okay!"

"According to you…'L' is for the _lethal_ poisons. The other poisons that aren't as strong will be _medium_ strength poisons. Let's call them 'M'. For the weakest poisons, to not confuse them with the medium strength poisons, will be the _boring_ poisons. We'll use the letter 'B'." Sasori began to label every single one of his poisons. There were a number of weak poisons he named. Once he finished that, he went on to label the antidotes for each poison. "The antidotes for the poisons will have an extra 'A' on them."

Eirin had never heard him talk so much. She was surprised he agreed so quickly. He had just finished naming everything. It was easy enough to follow and she hoped she would remember it all.

Chiyo grinned to herself.

 _They get along well._

* * *

"So security has tightened around the village?"

"Yes."

"…tch!"

"My Lord?"

"They just _had_ to tighten security, didn't they?"

"…it was only today that they decided to, My Lord."

A sigh, "It will make our jobs harder. Do what you can. Best to just gather information for the time being."

"Yes, My Lord. Is that all?"

"No. Make sure you keep an eye on Hana, as well. She would do to learn a thing or two…you understand, don't you?"

"…yes, My Lord."

"Good. You're dismissed."

* * *

"That's right! Good on you, Eirin. You're really good at this." Chiyo praised.

The small girl grinned and held up the small body of a puppet she had made. It was very difficult and required a lot of persistence and patience. She hadn't made the limbs yet as it was harder, and the end of the day was near. Sasori had left after labelling his poisons so that he could go train in his Genin team.

"I know, why don't you show Sasori?" Chiyo suggested.

"Why?" Eirin stared up at her innocently. "But okay." She grinned when she could bend the body. It didn't bend _too_ much, but it was fine.

"Show me what?" Sasori strode in with a different change of clothes. He glanced over in their direction and moved to his own work bench to continue an unfinished puppet.

"I made a body!" Eirin shoved it in front of Sasori. He glanced at it for a moment, then at the girl.

Gently, he pushed it away from his face. "That was quick. It…looks good." Even though he didn't really think so, it was good for a complete amateur.

Eirin lit up and she grinned widely. "I'll be making the arms and legs soon! But Granny Chiyo said later…" She pouted.

"Isn't your mother worried you aren't home? It's late." Sasori remembered how fussy the shinobi was about Eirin.

"Yeah, I should go home soon!" Eirin smiled and placed the body onto the table. "I'll leave this here! Since I'll be coming back, I don't think I'd need to bring it with me."

"Good idea, Eirin." Chiyo nodded. "I'll bring you—"

"Chiyo-sama." Yuno knocked on the door, even though it was open. Everyone's attention rested on him. He gave a nod of acknowledgement to the kids before requesting Chiyo's time.

"Sorry, kids. Sasori, bring her home, will you?" Chiyo smiled at the youngsters and went to converse with the Jonin.

He didn't make a sound as he exited the puppet lab, telling Eirin to follow him. It was evening when they exited the lab. The sun was setting and people were packing up their stores. Sasori then realised he had no idea where she lived.

"Where is your house?" He questioned.

"It's this way!" Eirin skipped ahead of him. Sasori followed behind.

He caught himself staring at her as she danced around like a free spirit. The orange light had danced around her pale skin, making it look like it was glowing. Her hair was tinted an orange hue and those green eyes of hers stood out like the moon against the night sky.

It was a pleasant sight, if Sasori had to say so himself.

 _Just like a work of art._


	5. Puppet 5

Porcelain

Puppet #5

* * *

The following days were full of happiness for Eirin. Even though she knew that Granny Chiyo and Sasori had their own things to do, she still insisted that she go to Chiyo's puppet lab to play with the puppets. She wanted to finish off that puppet she had started, and show the finished product to her 'mentors' that she looked up to greatly.

Chiyo was an elder of the Sand village. She always made up little excuses or tried to play dead so that she could secretly sneak off to find Eirin and play with her and her puppets. She found Eirin much more interesting than the old hoots in the meetings she was always in.

Sasori was a Genin, but soon he became a Chunin. He was getting busier by the day, but surprisingly, that didn't stop him from checking on his own creations down in the lab. He wasn't ever surprised to see Eirin there. She was always tinkering with the tools and trying to make something when he returned from his missions. The red head shinobi found her presence almost normal.

It was evening when Sasori came down into the lab. He flicked on the lights, expecting to see it empty at this hour. His brows rose in surprise when he saw that Eirin was sleeping, about to slide off the table she was working on. He caught her before she fell and stared at the object she grasped tightly in her hand. She had finished off the puppet she had shown him days ago. He gently pried it out of her hands and stared at it.

He had to admit, the craftsmanship was alright for an amateur, but by no means good. Sasori raised a brow when he saw the face of the puppet. It had red hair and big but almost half lidded eyes.

He let a chuckle escape his mouth and shook his head, placing it on the counter.

 _Can't believe she tried to make a puppet of me._ He thought with slight amusement. He stared at her sleeping face for a short moment, before flicking her on the forehead. It didn't even make her budge. His eye twitched.

The Chunin couldn't just let her stay in the puppet lab, so he picked her up and travelled to her home, where he left her in Hana's care.

Hana thanked the boy graciously before she tucked Eirin in. The food she had cooked for her child was cooling, so she just shoved it into the fridge.

 _She'll eat it later…_ Hana sighed. She collapsed onto the sofa, feeling utterly exhausted from her mission in the day. There was a lot of fighting involved this time. It was surprising as well, as the days before that, there was nothing that suggested a planned attack. But right when they just let their guard down, the enemy pounced.

"Geez…" She pressed a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, breathing steadily. One of the opposing ninja she had faced, but wasn't able to kill, had mentioned something of great importance to her.

" _ **Oh? I'm surprised you're still alive. I heard you had died in that assassination."**_

It shocked Hana greatly that the other ninja knew about it. She shook her head.

 _No…I shouldn't think of that. I shouldn't think of that at all. No! No thinking about that…_

Memories began to surface and Hana tried to suppress them, but to no avail. She pressed her hands to either side of her head and rested her elbows on her thighs, almost pulling at her hair. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts as they clouded over with memories of the past. Cold sweat dripped down her chin and she faced forward, trying to calm her erratic breathing.

 _Calm down, Hana…calm down…_

There was a knock on the door. Hana jumped in her seat, feeling dread. She breathed in and out deeply and quickly washed her face, before opening the door.

"Yuno?" Hana questioned.

"Ah, sorry, were you busy?" He rubbed the back of his head.

"Ah – no, I wasn't." Hana lied. She needed a distraction from her mind – anything would do.

"Ok then. One of the platoon members got some information off one of those enemy ninja we faced." Yuno explained. "I just heard about it – apparently the person who sent them was this person with the initials F.L…I'm not exactly sure what it means, but we extracted that out of their minds. Apparently it was on a written piece of paper that was sent to them."

"F.L?" Hana quizzed. She'd heard it before but she didn't know what it meant. Why did it have to pop up now? She clenched her molars, her eyes narrowing at Yuno unconsciously.

"Eh – Hana? Are…are you okay? Is there something on my face?" The male Jonin touched his face and blinked many times, wondering why his friend was glaring at him.

"Ah! No, no, nothing's wrong." Hana shook her head, her mind fast forwarding back to reality. "Thank you for the information. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Hana." Yuno nodded his head and headed off.

Hana closed the door and immediately her legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor, her head against the door. "F.L…"

 _The one who ordered that assassination._

* * *

"Why does the puppet look like me?" Sasori asked Eirin directly. He had come home early from a mission that day and went down to the lab. Unsurprisingly, the pale female was already seated there, playing with the newly finished puppet she had made the other day.

"Eh?!" Looking up, Eirin blinked a few times in utter surprise, having not noticed Sasori's presence at all. She saw him staring at her expectantly, waiting for an answer. She could see the corners of his mouth threatening to push downwards for the wait. Eirin's pale cheeks filled with a rosy colour and she felt embarrassed to tell him the reason, but she did anyway. "I made a puppet that looked like you because…because you helped me…and, and I don't want to forget that!" She was looking away now.

Sasori's brows jumped in mild surprise. He didn't think too much of the reason and took it like a grain of salt, but he didn't get why she had to get embarrassed about it. His lips curled into a small smirk. "Eirin."

Said female turned around in response to her name, but when she saw the smirking Sasori, she immediately looked away, making a funny sound.

The red head stifled a laugh. She had looked as if she was on the verge of crying, but from embarrassment. He didn't dislike the red on her cheeks though; it made her look alive. But he still preferred the porcelain colour of her normal skin tone.

"I see. Why don't you make one of Granny Chiyo, too?" The Chunin suggested. His legs dangled off the seat he was in. He was making a new poison, one that was going to be stronger than the most lethal one he had right now.

Eirin heard him working on something and slowly looked over, the redness dying. She nodded her head slowly and placed the puppet of Sasori down onto the table, before reaching to start on another one. Sasori watched her from the side of his eye. She was much calmer now but working very slowly.

 _Where is Granny Chiyo…? She should help her…she's too slow._

* * *

"Are you absolutely sure?!" Chiyo hissed, her eyes narrowing.

Hana nodded her head. "That's right. It's the same person. I'm sure of it. I'm afraid that they have already found out. That's why this is happening." Her voice was soft and whispery, so only Chiyo could hear. Hana trusted Chiyo very much, as she was the one who had assisted her in the past.

Pressing her lips together into a thin line, Chiyo wasn't sure what to think. She only knew that Eirin was in danger. Did she make the wrong decision to bring her here?

"Chiyo-sama, should we tighten security yet again? They might infiltrate the village." Hana asked with a worry laced voice.

"…hm…" The middle aged woman's eyes narrowed. "We _could_ do that, but you know, the minute that we let our guards down after no attacks, they will attack. They're strategic that way. Turns out F.L is a lot harder to deal with than you think." She chuckled darkly. "Are they at it again? Those fools…"

"I'm sure I know their objective." Hana glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping on them. She didn't feel any additional presences around. "It should be Eirin."

"…I thought so." Chiyo sighed through her nose.

"I don't think they'll stop until they get her."

"No…I don't think they will."

"Should we implement guards to watch her?"

"No, that isn't necessary."

"Why not?"

"There's someone that will look out for her…but they won't ever admit it."

Hana was a little confused, but then she got what she meant. She inwardly smiled and nodded her head, "Alright, Chiyo-sama. I will go back to my post now. Thank you for your time."

With a nod, they separated.


	6. Puppet 6

Porcelain

Puppet #6

* * *

"Eirin, it's getting late. You should be—" Sasori turned around to face his friend. He stopped mid-sentence when he realised she had already fallen asleep on the table. It looked like she face planted. He stared at her for a long second, before sighing and storing the poison he just made. He rearranged the numbering and naming before slipping out of his chair and going out to wash his hands.

When he came back, he saw Eirin was on the floor, knocked out cold.

"How can you not wake up if you've hit the ground…?" Sasori deadpanned and picked her up, carrying her in front of him. He realised that she was holding onto a puppet tightly; it was the one she had made of him. "That doesn't even look like me." He muttered, prying it out of her hands and placing it in his pocket. He walked out.

When he reached the outside, the cool winds blew and sent a shiver down his spine. It was a lot darker than he had thought.

 _I guess it took me longer to make that poison,_ Sasori thought. He walked to Eirin's house, in which the path he took was memorised. He had been there so often because she had fallen asleep in the puppet lab that it was almost like an everyday thing to bring her back.

"Give her to me."

Sasori spun around almost instantly, changing his hold of Eirin so that he could use one hand for combat, the other for holding the sleeping girl. His eyes were wide with surprise; he didn't hear or sense anybody sneak up on him. When he was met with nothing, his eyes narrowed and he checked his surroundings.

 _There's nobody here…_ he held onto Eirin and briskly continued his way towards her house.

"Soon she will belong to me." The voice was dangerously close to Sasori's ear that he sent a kick backwards immediately due to reflexes. However, he hit nothing. He clenched his teeth and observed his surroundings, trying to see if there were any traces of the man who spoke in his ear.

 _Just what the hell is happening?!_ He inwardly frowned. _What did he mean?_

"Tch." The young red head clicked his tongue and arrived at Eirin's house. Hana was home, so she took the youngster in, thanking the red head. He handed her the Sasori puppet and told her to put it near Eirin, since she liked it so much. He didn't speak of what happened just before he delivered her home. As he walked home, he heard a slight rustle in the bushes. Using a kunai, he threw it at the bush, only to have a white rabbit jump out and hop away for its life.

 _Someone's stalking me,_ Sasori knew. Rabbits weren't meant to be white in summer or spring. _Is this the same person who was talking in my ear?_

* * *

Hana slowly ate her ramen as she thought of what she discussed with Chiyo. Eirin had just been brought home and was safely tucked into a blanket on the couch – where she could keep an eye on her.

 _If F.L's assigned shinobi to Suna for a continuation of_ that _mission…then that means that F.L knew that Eirin would be in Suna. When did he find out?_

The woman finished up and drummed her fingers against the table, leaning on her fist. Through her mind; a time when she was younger was replayed. She unconsciously glared at the table, a hatred bubbling inside of her.

She frowned, _just what is F.L planning?!_

* * *

Sasori watched his surroundings, waiting for whoever spoke to him before to speak again. But, he didn't anything as the night continued.

He remembered what the man said – 'give her to me' and 'soon she will belong to me'. It was only the three of them in that one place – and both he and the person were male.

 _Was he after Eirin?_

* * *

"Oh, so she noticed it was me behind it?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Ah…that brings back memories."

"If I may be permitted to ask, did you know her before this?"

"Hm…it's fine. I'll tell you a little. Hana survived in an assassination attempt about 5 years ago. How she survived is beyond me, but if she's alive and well…that means that my objective is too."

"My Lord…what is your objective?"

"Eirin."

* * *

Eirin stared up at her mother with wide eyes. Hana was observing her every move as she loomed over her daughter, who had fallen asleep on the couch and didn't wake up till the morning.

With a soundless sigh and a grin, the older woman sang, "Good morning, Eirin!"

"G-good morning…" Eirin blinked a few times, before pulling the blankets off her body. She stretched and wondered what the time was, since she slept for a long time. It wasn't even that late. Around 8.

"You keep going off in the day. Where are you always off to?" Hana questioned. She knew exactly where she was, thanks to Chiyo. She always kept tabs on her, but still asked for the sake of it.

Eirin drank some water and took out her previous night's dinner, which she slept through. As it heated, she grinned at her mother, "I went to the puppet lab! I was making puppets."

"You were making them?" Hana asked. Of course, she already knew the answer to that.

"Yup! Ah!" Eirin checked her pockets but noticed that the one she made that looked like Sasori wasn't there. She checked the couch and saw that it was under the blankets. She showed her mother her first masterpiece. "This! Guess who it's supposed to be!"

The kunoichi leaned back slightly, trying to get a good look at the puppet that had been shoved in her face. She found red hair and lazy brown coloured eyes, "That's…Sasori."

"It looks like him, right?!" Eirin exclaimed with excitement, placing the object onto the table. Hana examined the puppet whilst Eirin ate.

"I…I guess it does."

* * *

"There was something weird about that puppet." Hana told Chiyo.

"That puppet?" The woman questioned.

"The one that Eirin made that looks like Sasori."

"Oh…what of it?"

"It doesn't seem like something an amateur would make."

"Are you insulting my pupil?"

"Hey…she's my kid, you know. I took a look at it this morning, but it seems as if…" Hana couldn't even put her confusion in words, "I don't know! There's something just really weird about it."

"…are you telling me to take a look at it?" Chiyo asked; her curiosity perked.

"Is it okay if you could? You're a puppet master."

"It's alright. I'll take a look soon."

"Thank you, Chiyo-sama. Sorry for—"

"There's no need, Hana. What are old pals for?"

Hana's expression of surprise changed into one of a smile.

"I feel bad that I always depends on you."

* * *

"Now…what do we have here?" Chiyo came down to the puppet lab. She had somehow gotten herself out of her various meetings by replacing herself with a clone.

She saw Sasori working on something, and Eirin asleep.

"She's asleep." Sasori stated the obvious.

 _I can see that…I'm not getting senile, you know._ Chiyo thought blandly.

She went over to where Eirin was sleeping and saw the Sasori-like puppet on the side. Chiyo took it into her hands and examined it.

"What is the meaning of this?" Chiyo muttered under her breath. She turned to Sasori with a shocked expression. "Why would you do this?"

Sasori stopped tinkering with his puppet. He turned to face his grandmother with an impassive expression. "Do what?"

"Sasori," Chiyo held up the puppet and opened up the back. It popped open. Chiyo took out the contents and showed it to him, "Why would you put a tape recorder inside it?"

Sasori lazily glanced at the recorder, then at Chiyo. "I have my reasons."

Chiyo's brows knitted together. Last time she checked – the puppet wasn't hollow in the body. There was only one person who could've done anything like this – and it had to be someone who was always with Eirin, since she carried it with her at all times, and someone who was adept at puppetry.

"What are you trying to record?" Chiyo questioned. What could possibly be of interest to him?

"…why don't you play it for yourself?" Sasori suggested.

Chiyo pressed the play button and waited for it to speak. After some static, a couple of quiet voices started talking.

' _ **What should we do? If we take her now, she'll wake up.'**_

' _ **Did you**_ **not** _ **listen to him? He told us**_ **not** _ **to take them! He said that we just needed to gather information! You're useless!'**_

' _ **S-sorry. So we just need to do plant a bug on Hana, right?'**_

' _ **Yeah. Planting one on the kid won't do anything.'**_

' _ **Where should we put it? It can't be too conspicuous.'**_

' _ **Something she always wears'.**_

'… _ **done! Now let's get out of here.'**_

The tape recorder buzzed off. Sasori had a small smirk on his face as he watched his grandmother's expression of horror.

"I said I had my reasons."


	7. Puppet 7

Porcelain

Puppet #7

* * *

Chiyo paced back and forth in the puppet lab. She didn't know what to think of the situation. Sasori had been right in his instinct to place a recording device in the puppet. What it recorded was gold.

 _So it's started sooner than I thought!_ The corner of Chiyo's lips curled downwards. She didn't like where this was heading. _If they bugged Hana…that would mean that it has to be on her personage right now. Is it her forehead protector? Or is it on her clothing?_

 _What_ exactly _are they planning?_

Sasori had taken the puppet from his grandmother and took out the tape recorder. He tinkered a little with the small toy.

"What are you doing, Sasori?" Chiyo questioned.

"Fixing it." There was a look of mischievousness in his eyes when he placed the puppet back next to Eirin.

* * *

Hana opened up the scroll that Chiyo had given her. It was a written document, one that shocked Hana. She opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish, but nothing came out. In the end, she just frowned and nodded, writing something in return.

"I will do my best, Chiyo-sama."

The older woman nodded her head and dismissed her old friend.

Hana went back home. She was alone, she knew, since it was the middle of the day. She began to cook a meal for herself as she searched her body, trying to find where the bug had been placed. She finally found it on the inside of her Jonin vest – and immediately went to the Sunagakure technology lab to get them to have a look at it.

"We'll let you know the results very soon."

"Thank you."

* * *

"What _is_ this weird noise?"

"I don't know, my Lord."

The Lord sighed through his nostrils, "What is the security level in Sunagakure as of now?"

"The security there is high. I am guessing that the security level will lower after a few weeks if there is no action taken in that time frame."

"Very good. Hm…knowing her, she would have the security heightened even if there is no immediate danger. What a cautious woman."

"Should I eliminate her?"

"No…not yet. I have something planned for her."

"As you wish, my Lord."

* * *

"Well? What were the results?" Hana pressured. She had come down to the Sunagakure Lab after her shift guarding the border had ended.

One of the technicians held up the small device she had found on her body, "I have turned it off. It's a listening device. The machinery is quite advanced."

"Do you know who is trying to listen in?"

"I don't know _who_ , but it is someone that lives far from here."

"…thank you." Hana took the device and went off to tell Chiyo.

* * *

Sasori sat on the roof outside of the Kazekage's tower. It was a nice spot to relax, but that wasn't the reason why he was there. He had overheard Hana and Chiyo, so he followed them silently to eavesdrop. He had heard (from Hana and the technician when he had passed by the lab after returning from a mission) that it was something related to the contents recorded on the recording device.

It intrigued him that people were after Eirin – though he didn't know the reason why. This was why he was doing what he was doing.

"I really do think it's F.L, Chiyo-sama."

"It seems to be so."

"Should I dispose of the device?"

"…it's up to you."

"Alright. I'll keep it, then. How's Eirin?"

"She's still in the puppet lab. I think I may have made her obsessed with puppets."

"Chiyo-sama, you know that's not the case."

"I'm not getting senile, you know. It's quite obvious she loves puppets. Probably more than I do. She's been stuck in the lab nearly every day. Sasori's with her sometimes, so it's not too bad, but…doesn't she have any friends other than Sasori?"

 _Since when were we friends?_ Sasori thought with a funny expression.

"Eirin does, but…they're ninja. She was brought up in an environment where there were a lot more adults than kids...and her friends are all away on missions."

"Is that so…? Anyway, the security will be tightened so that the citizens, as well as their prime objective, stays safe."

"I'm sorry for dragging my problems into your affairs, Chiyo-sama."

"Oh, think nothing of it! I've known you since you were a wee thing."

"C-Chiyo-sama!"

"Hehe. I'll stop."

"Thank you. For your time and for the security. I'll have a better peace of mind now."

"Take care, Hana."

Sasori jumped down onto the ground and walked to the puppet lab. He thought of what information he'd gained so far – did it help him at all?

 _Somewhat._

* * *

As the security of Sunagakure was tightened, enemy ninja were not able to go through to Sunagakure easily. But once in a blue moon, one lone enemy would be able to infiltrate the borders and harm the citizens. The people who infiltrate are sometimes not even ninjas – but citizens extracting revenge on somebody.

"This is the 3rd person this year." Hana sighed. So far, the security of Sunagakure was good. In a few years, only a few people each year have infiltrated the borders.

"That's not that many people, is it?" Eirin questioned. She was now 11 years old; the same age as Sasori.

"It _is_ a lot of people, considering the security was upped." Hana explained. Eirin shrugged.

"Alright. I'll be in the puppet lab, then. See you later, mother." Eirin waved and smiled before continuing towards the lab.

Hana placed her free hand on her hip. The other hand held onto the infiltrator's collar. He had been beaten up pretty badly by Hana.

"Well. Now you're going to get a one way trip to hell." Hana frowned at the male. He groaned in response. "I'm throwing you into the torture chamber."

She dragged him all the way to the chamber before throwing him inside and letting the other ninjas deal with him. "I'll be back soon. Lock this guy up." She ordered.

Hana stared at her knuckles as she walked to the Kazekage's tower to find Chiyo. Even against the dark material of her gloves, she could see the dark bloodstains.

 _I'll burn these once I get back._ Hana thought bitterly. The man she just took to the torture chamber had come from outside. Hana had known him previously when she was doing a C-ranked mission. It was another one of those crazy suitors that came to pursue her, but ultimately got rejected. And after they did, they went to find her and exact revenge.

"Why the hell do I have to deal with all this?!" Hana muttered under her breath. She breathed deeply in an attempt to calm herself down. Once she did, she thought of the positives rather than the negatives.

 _At least nothing happened to Eirin during the few years. It's better that it's happening to me, I guess…_ Hana sighed. _But we barely got anything on F.L. I think he might have halted his actions until the security goes down._

 _Hm. Better ask Chiyo._

* * *

"Eh? Sasori, I thought you had a mission." Eirin peered into the puppet lab. She found a pleasant surprise there.

"Another squad took it." Sasori replied.

"Ah…I guess you're stuck with me today then." The dark haired female laughed.

Sasori's brown eyes flickered to the female. He tilted his head slightly, examining her face.

"Is there something on my face?" Eirin asked, pointing to it.

Sasori looked away and back at the puppet he was working on. He shook his head, "No, nothing."

 _The same as before._

"Huh. Okay then." Eirin just smiled and hummed a soft tune when she sat down onto the bench. Once she sat down, she felt eyes on her. Thinking it was Sasori, she glanced at him, only to see that he was working on his puppet. But she still felt a stare on her. She looked around, but found nothing. Wondering if she was just imagining things, she started to organise the items on the bench.

Sasori's eyes flickered to the open door.

 _When was there a breeze down here?_

* * *

"You called?" Sasori stared at his grandma. She stood in front of the torture chamber, tapping her feet impatiently against the ground.

"Ah, Sasori!" Chiyo nodded at his presence. "I don't have anybody interrogating him right now, and he won't come up with any answers, even after Hana's interrogation method."

Sasori slightly cringed. He had seen Hana's interrogation method, and it wasn't a pretty sight. He had only seen it once or twice by accident when he was young, but the memory of it burned in his mind.

"I need someone to look over him. Are you fine with that, Sasori?" Chiyo requested.

"That's fine." The red head replied. He went inside without a moment's hesitation.

Hana looked up from the seats that lined the outside of the room of the torture chamber. She stood up when she saw the boy. "Sasori, he's all yours."

With a brief nod, Hana left. Sasori readied his weapons and went inside. The thick stench of blood made him wrinkle his nose in disgust. When he saw the man chained to the wall, he wondered what on earth he could have done.

"What did you do?" Sasori asked, taking a slow step to the side. He closed the door.

The man had only a few whip lashes. Sasori concluded that Hana didn't do too much damage. The man looked up and a chuckle rippled through his body, "What…now a kid…?"

"I don't like repeating myself." Several kunai slipped into Sasori's hand.

"Keh…I attacked…Hana…"

"Why?"

"Revenge."

"For what?"

"Turning down…my proposal."

"Proposal?"

"Marriage, son. You'll…understand when you get older."

"…and become like you? Don't want to."

"Heh! What a smartass…"

Sasori was silent for a moment, thinking. He crossed his arms, "Are you a normal civilian?"

"Yeah. What of it…?"

"Why would you attack a ninja?" Sasori mused, "That's suicide."

"Ha! So you _do_ have brains, kid. Fine…I didn't attack Hana first. I was going after her kid."

"Her kid?"

"The one with the dark hair…and light skin."

 _He must mean Eirin._ Sasori's eyes narrowed slightly. "Why did you attack her first?"

"She was alone."

"Why would you attack her? Wasn't Hana your objective?"

"Heh…I wanted her to feel despair of losing a loved one."

"And you wanted to achieve this by killing Eirin?"

"So her name was Eirin…heh…yeah. Losing Hana is like losing a loved one. I'll resort to any means…to get her…even if it means killing someone precious to her! Like her adopted daughter!"

Sasori made an expression of revulsion. "Disgusting." Not only was he going to kill an innocent, he was going to stupidly do it for a stupid reason for a revenge!

"What do you know?!" He snapped. He coughed up a little blood. Sasori threw the kunais into the shoulders of the man, causing him to scream out in pain.

"Stay there and calm your head." Sasori stepped out of the room. He told an officer on duty that he'd be leaving.

Outside, Chiyo was waiting. "Find out anything?"

Sasori huffed in annoyance, "That man is a babbling fool with an equally stupid mind." He turned on his heel.

He saw Hana and Eirin in the distance, going home. He tilted his head slightly, now knowing the reason behind their dissimilarities.

 _Turns out they're not related at all._


	8. Puppet 8

Porcelain

Puppet #8

* * *

A knock sounded the front door to Eirin's family home. Eirin awoke from her sleep, having heard the loud knock. She heard footsteps and the door unlock, before discreet voices were heard. Being a little curious as to who it was at this hour (it was past midnight), she got up and sneaked to the door, where she peered at the main door from the cracks.

Hana was talking to someone who she could barely see the features of. Judging from the voice, the other was male. Hana looked a little angry, but she didn't raise her voice much.

 _Who is that man…?_ Eirin wondered. She watched with a hitched breath – she knew how sharp ninja ears were and didn't want to get caught.

Eirin couldn't hear a single word from the man.

"Fine." Hana had replied. It was the only word Eirin had heard.

Not long after, Hana had gone out of the house, closing the door behind her.

 _Mother?! Where are you going?!_ Eirin was a little worried. It was because of how her mother acted around this person. It was awkward and it wasn't Hana at all.

Silently, Eirin tip toed out of the room after getting her Sasori puppet and made her way towards the front door, where she looked into the eyehole, seeing where they were going. Once they were out of sight, Eirin opened the door as quietly as she could, before trailing after them, hiding behind things if necessary.

It was dark but the 11 year old could see that they weren't going towards the city, but rather to the outskirts of the town.

 _Why are they going to the out of the village?_ Eirin questioned with a raised brow. _Something doesn't seem right here._

Casting her eyes down to where she held the red haired puppet to her chest, she squeezed her eyes shut, _I hope nothing bad happens to Mother!_

When the young girl noticed movement, she followed. She was a little far from the trio of people – Hana and two men were there. She was a fair distance away only because she knew that she would get spotted easily if she was closer. Sasori taught her that.

They had taken an alternate route out of the village. Where ever they went, Eirin followed. She had a strange feeling at the pit of her stomach and it wasn't something that she could just ignore. When the trio stopped in the forest, they talked for a while. Eirin couldn't hear anything that was exchanged verbally between them, but she knew it was serious. Their expressions told it all. Hana was frowning and she was tapping her toe impatiently.

 _What are they talking about…?_ Eirin wondered. She was hiding behind a bush, crouched down in the darkness where no one could spot her.

Suddenly, one of the two men started to attack Hana. Eirin gasped, but slapped a hand over her mouth to prevent from getting found out. Hana had blocked the assault, sending a kick their way. But she was too slow, as the man had jumped and sent a kick to her face, whilst the other one swept his leg on the ground to force her to lose balance.

Hana ground her molars at the difficult situation and bent her head back, jumping just slightly so that both kicks missed. She grabbed one of their legs and threw him against the other one, but that proved the worst decision, as his partner caught him by the arm, enabling him to spin around and send a heel kick into Hana's jaw. Hana let out a gasp and she hit the tree.

"Be a good girl and just fall asleep now. You shouldn't have run away; _he_ doesn't let people get away from him." One of the men took out something from his pocket, but it was too hard for Eirin to see what it was.

"A syringe?" Hana narrowed her eyes as she held her jaw. One of the men grabbed her roughly by the arm, causing another struggle as she tried to get out of his grip. But Hana was unsuccessful as that man also had a syringe, but concealed.

Eirin's mother slumped in their arms as she lost consciousness.

The hiding child stared with wide green eyes – what had she just witnessed?

* * *

Sasori rolled around in his sleep. Eventually, he awoke and stared at the dark ceiling, completely awake. He sat up and stared at his legs, trying to remember what dream he was having.

He remembered black hair, emeralds, and a porcelain puppet.

"Eirin…" He mumbled absentmindedly. He blinked in surprise when he caught himself say her name, bewildered that he actually had.

 _What the hell's wrong with me?_

He got out of bed and took a few scrolls with him, before heading out on the balcony of his home. He stared at the moon, narrowing his eyes at it.

 _I have a bad feeling about this._

* * *

Eirin gasped when she felt somebody hit the back of her neck. She fell over into the bush and yelped in surprise. She nearly screamed when she saw who it was – it was one of the men that had knocked out her mother. He held onto the child's leg so hard that it would bruise, staring at her with raised brows.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here. I can't believe you were awake and followed Hana the whole time." He mused, "Nice of you to check up on her though."

"W-who are you?!" Eirin demanded, panic rising.

"We're ninja." He pulled her up by the leg so that she dangled upside down. Eirin winced from the pain of getting scratched by the twigs from the bush and tried to reach towards her ankles, but to no avail. She held tightly onto her puppet.

"We taking her too?" The other man appeared beside the one that held Eirin upside down. He had Hana slung over the shoulder.

"Yeah. Why not? She's alone and already here." He snickered.

"Do the honours." The man that had Hana shrugged.

"What are you going to do?!" Eirin cried. She couldn't get out of this situation, and she knew it. Why didn't she listen to her instinct and stayed home? She wasn't even a ninja.

"This." The man injected the syringe into her thigh, smiling at her. "You didn't get knocked out when I hit you before…so this should be less painful."

Eirin felt woozy and her vision began to fade. Whatever was in that syringe was acting quickly. Even if she tried to, she couldn't stay awake.

"…after all, we need you alive."

* * *

Sasori went to Eirin's house. It didn't take him long to get there, but when he did, he noticed that there the door was unlocked, and there was nobody inside.

 _Where did they go?_ Sasori's gaze flickered to the ground near the house. He saw some tracks which looked pretty recent.

Seeing as he had no leads at the moment to their whereabouts, he followed after the footprints. The Chunin saw that there were 4 pairs. Three were grouped together and they weren't overlapping, which suggested that there were 3 people who went together to whatever destination they were going. The other one was smaller and it completely overlapped the other footprints, meaning that somebody smaller than the others had gone by and followed them.

It continued like this until Sasori arrived at the alternate exit of Sunagakure. It wasn't actually guarded heavily like the borders would be. Sasori recalled that there were a few guards that were watching over this alternate exit, but he couldn't find them anywhere. When he did get closer to the forest outside of Suna, something caught his eye. There, tied together and knocked unconscious, outside against a tree in the forest, were two guards.

Sasori didn't even bother waking them up and continued onwards, following the fresh foot prints. Now that he was in the forest, it was a little harder to know where they went. But he _did_ find out that the small set of footprints and the group of three footprints had diverged at one point in the forest. He followed the larger set of footprints and found that it stopped not too far away from the village walls.

The puppet master glanced at the ground. There weren't many prints that were actual 'prints'.

 _Something happened here._ Sasori deduced. _A fight?_

Seeing that the large footprints left behind had one set that went off into the direction of the bushes, he followed it. The red head peered behind the bush and his eyes widened when he caught sight of an object that made his mind go blank.

There, on the ground, was the red haired puppet.


	9. Puppet 9

Porcelain

Puppet #9

* * *

 _Did they take both Hana and Eirin?_ Sasori's brown eyes narrowed. He leaned down and picked up the puppet, dusting off the dirt. He held onto it as he tried to see what had conspired that night. He noted that there was definitely a struggle. The other set of large footprints was behind the small ones, which he knew now to be Eirin's.

Sasori saw something glint in the moonlight. He jumped over the bushes and kneeled onto the ground, tracking down what that shiny object was. When he saw it, he got a stick and poked it, pushing it out from under the bushes when it didn't move.

 _A syringe?_ Sasori raised a brow, picking it up. There was still residue of what was in the small container. Sasori ripped a large leaf off the bush and squirted out the remaining liquid onto the leaf. When he realised that it wasn't a corrosive poison, he took a whiff of it, and immediately knew what had been used.

 _A sleeping agent._ Sasori left the needle behind as he saw another set of tracks going off to the side, towards the desert. Quickly, he went to follow. He was glad that they left such clear tracks behind.

 _The desert is beyond this. Where could they have gone?_ Sasori burst out of the forest and into the sandy terrain of the desert.

He was in luck, however, when he saw 2 light sets of footprints.

 _So it really was recent._ Sasori glanced around, trying to see if he could see them in the distance. He didn't see anything, which made him raise an eyebrow in slight confusion. As he thought, he quickly followed the fading footsteps, thankful that the wind didn't pick up that night.

* * *

Hana coughed up blood. She felt her body and face stinging with wounds, but she would not utter a word. She remembered that she was knocked unconscious when she followed the two men into the forest. They had wanted to talk to her about a few things – they were Sunagakure ninja, but she realised that they weren't when they knew too much detail about a certain incident. That's why a fight started.

"Look at you; you're hopeless." One of the men, who she found out the name of was Yoshi, used a hand to forcibly lift up her face via the cheeks. She clenched her jaw, glaring at the man. It was dark, so she couldn't see his features too clearly. She only knew the basic features.

Hana didn't say anything. "Where the hell's the other guy?"

"The other guy? Oh, he's with your daughter." Yoshi answered, twirling a kunai around his finger. He stabbed it by Hana's arms, which were chained on the wall, smiling. "You should be glad that he won't lay a hand on her."

"Eirin?! EIRIN'S HERE?!" Hana's eyes widened and she felt herself start to panic. "What?!"

"Why are you so shocked?" Yoshi raised a brow and sat cross legged on a nearby wooden box. He rested his chin on his palm, "She actually followed us, you know, all the way until we went outside the village." He smirked when he saw the look of horror on the kunoichi's face, before it twisted into pure anger, "We only drugged her, you know. Don't make that face. She would have become a formidable enemy had she actually been a ninja. Be proud, I tried knocking her out by the neck but she somehow didn't fall unconscious." He added after a silent moment, "Oh, and she's completely unscathed, except for a few scratches from the trees. Rest easy, the princess is fine."

Hana let out a small sigh of relief, but then hardened her gaze. "How do I know you're not lying? Bring her to me! Show me proof!" She demanded.

"That's a tough request from a hostage…wouldn't you say?" Yoshi smirked, matching her eyes. They stared (or more like glared, in Hana's case) at each other for a long while, before Yoshi laughed, slapping his knee.

"HA! You really want to protect that brat, don't you?" He wiped a tear, having found it way too funny.

Hana frowned at his actions, "She's my daughter!"

"Fine. I'll bring her to you. But we won't be handing her over." Yoshi left the room and came back a moment later. He was holding Eirin in front of him, who was knocked out cold.

"Eirin!" Hana gasped, pulling at the chains. She growled when she couldn't free herself. She tried using chakra to get out of the chains, but realised that the chains were made of a chakra absorbing material.

 _Shit!_ She cursed mentally.

"Even if you shout at her, she won't wake. The drug lasts for a quarter of the day maximum." Yoshi shrugged. He smirked, "You know, F.L was the one who sent us."

"That much was obvious." Hana snapped.

Yoshi laughed, finding his hostage quite hilarious. Did she not know what that meant? Considering it was a hostage situation right now, being a sarcastic nuisance would mean that she wanted the death sentence.

Yoshi gave the door a few knocks. Hana saw that another person had come, and he handed Eirin to the other person.

"There, you saw her. Satisfied?" He asked.

"What if that was someone disguised as her? I can't trust you people."

"Oh? I'm telling the truth though."

"Heh!" Hana laughed, but instead ended coughing up a little blood instead. She swallowed the metallic taste from her mouth, making a face at the iron taste. "How can I trust a traitor?"

Yoshi's brows raised and his lips curled upwards into an amused smirk, "And _you're_ saying that?" He chuckled, "But if you put it that way…I guess I wouldn't trust myself either. Enough small talk. Are you going to tell me why you did what you did all those years ago?"

Hana clicked her tongue, "And you're not going to tell me why you were disguised as a Suna nin the whole time?!"

"Hey, hey…I'm the interrogator here. Not you." Yoshi flung a shuriken at Hana, stabling her in the arm. She winced at the pain. Yoshi's eyes grew dark, "Why would you betray F.L?" He took a step forward to Hana and took out a kunai, forcing his chakra into it. It burned with a bright orange.

"If you want to live…you would be wise to open your mouth now."

* * *

Sasori placed his hand against the sand. The footprints had stopped in the middle of nowhere. It was a strange thing indeed.

 _If the tracks ended here…_ Sasori dug a little deeper into the sand, feeling around. He did it around where the tracks stopped. _There must be some sort of contraption here._

Digging around a little bit more, Sasori felt something smooth. He immediately dug deeper and ran his hand around the edges to see how big it would be, and ended up dusting a large square metal frame.

Knowing that it was going to be heavy to lift by himself, he took out a scroll and summoned a puppet. He knocked against the metal and heard an echo.

 _A passage._ The boy instructed the puppet to open the door, in which it successfully did. He looked into the passage and cautiously went in, taking back his puppet when he had gone inside. When he did get past the stairs and onto stable ground, he saw that it was dimly lit by fire – meaning that someone was there recently.

 _Perfect._ Sasori thought. He looked ahead – it was a straight passage from where he entered. He continued on for a while and reached the end, where there were thick green vines that blocked the outside. He shoved it out of his face and poked his head through, seeing if there was anybody. It was still dark, so it was hard to see since there was only a small amount of moonlight, but it was good enough for him.

Observing his surroundings, Sasori realised that he was in some kind of forest – possibly by the border of either the Land of Fire or the Land of Earth. The forest was very green, he could tell, due to the dark colours that reflected a dull green. The trees were very tall and the branches and leaves covered up the light that the moon reflected.

 _Tall trees…_ Sasori looked up into the trees. _Nothing there. No houses…_

He looked down, and narrowed his eyes. The vines also had the same thick green vine that covered the exit of the passage. Being a little curious, the red head got out of the passage and kneeled down, pushing the vines out of the way. He only saw dirt, but it didn't stop him. Using the puppet he had earlier, the Chunin used it to cut the vines on the ground. Sasori heard a light clang of metal against metal, but dodged when he felt something cut the chakra string he had on the puppet.

The child tensed as he glanced around rapidly, trying to find what caused the disconnection. When he found that it was nobody, he narrowed his eyes and looked at the area that his puppet uncovered. It was another door. He used his puppet to open it up again, and once he did, he climbed in.

Like the other passage, this one was also dimly lit. But the fire seemed to burn brighter than before. Instead of it being a straight corridor, Sasori noticed that there were several doors on either side of the corridors, suggesting that somebody lived there, stored things there, or conducted something down there.

He heard the sound of a handle being turned.

Sasori placed his hands together and used a jutsu that he stole from an Iwagakure nin – the one that allowed him to camouflage and blend in with the setting. He moved out of the way, concealing his chakra. He heard muffled sounds on the left, whilst on the right, he heard nothing.

A man had come out from the right side, holding someone in his arms. He knocked on one of the doors and waited.

Sasori tiptoed over to the man, glancing at who he had in his arms. His eyes widened when he noticed the familiar face of Eirin.

 _So she really was here._ Sasori thought, his hand absentmindedly going to his chest pocket, which held the Sasori puppet. He narrowed his eyes at the man who had her in his arms. The door creaked open and a woman stood there. She looked like a servant from a noble household.

"Here. Dress her up appropriately for an audience." The man handed Eirin over to the maid.

 _An audience? What are they planning?_ The red head stared at the maid's face for a long time, trying to figure something out.

She smiled at him and bowed her head, showing respect. She closed the door. The man nodded once and went off down the hallway. Sasori went to follow him, but as he passed the closed door, he heard a cry.

"Thank goodness! Eirin-sama, you're alive!"

 _Eirin-sama?_ Sasori slowed down a little, staring at the door with a puzzled expression.

He shook his head and quickly followed the other man, who had opened another door and slipped in. Sasori slipped in as well, trailing after him expertly.

When the Suna nin got in, the door closed behind him. His eyesight adjusted to the room, but since it was dimly lit, he could make out three figures. One was against the wall, chained, the other was sitting in front of them, and the man he just followed was standing in between the man and the chained person.

The smell of blood hit Sasori like a tonne of bricks. It was so strong in that room, making him wrinkle his nose. He checked who the chained person was, having a bad feeling.

"Did she speak, Yoshi?" The man who Sasori followed asked.

"She didn't say anything. I've made her bleed too much. We need to dress her in bandages. _He_ can't know that we've injured her too much. Or he'll throw a hissy fit…" Yoshi frowned, then his brows raised and he looked over to his colleague, "Ah, Yuki, did you bring the girl to the maid?"

 _Who's 'he'?_ Sasori tilted his head slightly.

Yuki nodded in reply. "Good thing we kept them here for a time like this." He sighed, straightening up, "Now, what do we do with Hana? Did you make her lose consciousness?"

 _Hana? So it_ was _her. So they kidnapped them? Why would they kidnap Hana?_ Sasori made a thinking face. _Who are Eirin and Hana, exactly?_

"That was accidental."

"…hm…I have a good idea. Why don't we release Hana?" Yuki's eyes glinted mischievously.

"Release her?! Are you crazy?!" Yoshi exclaimed.

"What's the good of keeping her here? She's only here so that we can get information out of her. Don't you think it'll be better if we just let her go back to Suna…and call for help?" Yuki smiled deviously.

"…what are you getting at?" Yoshi raised a thick brow, "Is this one of your plans again?"

Yuki chuckled and nodded, "We'll leave her half dead near Suna…so she'll crawl back there and call reinforcements, since she's bound to know where we are. After all, she _was_ someone who carried missions out here many times. Why don't we get her to gather her fellow ninja…so that we can squeeze the information out of them…and kill them?"

Yoshi smirked, "Damn…you're a horrible person."

"Aren't you also?"

Sasori glared at them for a long moment, wondering what course of action he should take.

 _I'll just stay on the low for now…make sure I get enough info._

Yoshi and Yuki undid the chains that connected Hana to the wall, but the minute that they released her, they screamed as an electric shock coursed through their veins, making them fall unconscious.

Sasori watched her with surprise. Hana panted heavily as she wiped her mouth, rubbing her wrists after pulling out the shuriken and kunai that was in her arm. She looked around the room and stared straight where Sasori was, before she smiled and placed a finger to her lips, mouthing something.

' _ **I'll go get help. You stay here.'**_

She opened the door and quickly sped out, panting heavily.

Sasori's eyes were wide as he watched her. He stepped out of the room, closing it and locking it so that they couldn't get out until they were actually conscious. He saw Hana outside, pointing to one of the doors.

"In here. Get in through here." She knocked on the door before she sped away.

Sasori blinked a few times, before following what she said. He was surprised she could see past his jutsu – it was supposed to make him unnoticeable by others. He looked at his arm and looked right through it – his jutsu was still active so how?

 _She'll be walking right into their trap…? Does she have a plan? …never mind._ Sasori appeared at the door that Hana knocked on. It opened, revealing the maid from earlier. She blinked and opened the door wider, glancing in both directions in confusion. This allowed Sasori to slip in under her arm.

He looked inside, seeing that it was a bland but well-kept place. The wardrobe was open, filled with a bunch of clothes that were frilly and girly. On the dresser, there were many different cosmetics that Sasori saw. Lastly, he saw Eirin on the bed, dressed in one of the dresses from the wardrobe. It was frilly and red, which made her stand out like the moon in the sky.

The maid closed the door with a confused 'hm'. She turned around but then gasped, nearly screaming, when she saw Sasori, who had undid his invisibility jutsu. It was only when the red head placed a hand to her mouth that she didn't utter a sound.

"Quiet. I'm not going to kill you." Sasori took his hand off her mouth, going over to the bedside, where he stood in front of Eirin's unconscious form.

"W-who are y-you?" The maid stammered. She admired the boy's cute features, but was reminded of what he was – a ninja. He had done a jutsu right in front of her.

Sasori glanced at her from the side of his eye, "…a friend of Eirin's."


	10. Puppet 10

Porcelain

Puppet #10

* * *

"A friend of Eirin-sama's?" The maid questioned, blinking her brown eyes with confusion. Sasori nodded once.

"What are you dressing her up for? Who is this _audience_?" Sasori questioned, turning to face her. Sasori knew that she was the one that had cried over Eirin when he passed the door before.

The maid's expression morphed into one of fright. She gulped thickly and her fists trembled as she tried to answer the child's question. She had a strange feeling, and immediately knew that the boy was not part of F.L's squad of ninja.

"Why are you shaking?" Sasori asked, pointing at her.

The maid laughed nervously at his bluntness, "My name is Ai. I'm a maid…"

"I can see that. Now answer my question."

Ai whimpered gently at the kid's straightforwardness. "I've been instructed to dress Eirin-sama appropriately, so that she may have an audience with F.L."

"Who is F.L?"

"He is a noble related to the feudal lord."

"Related to the feudal lord?" Sasori questioned aloud, "Why would they need to kidnap her for that? Couldn't they just request her audience?"

"That can't be done." Ai spoke softly, staring at her mistress. She took a few steps closer so that she stood at the foot of the bed. She stared at Eirin for a long moment, aware that Sasori was watching her every move. She then moved her gaze to the red head's. "The reason it can't be done, is because of the feudal lord himself. He doesn't need to summon someone he has personal connections to."

Ai stopped herself there, gasping. She placed a hand over her mouth. She glanced at Sasori, letting her hand drop to her side. "Before I tell you any more…can I trust you?"

Sasori raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't know, decide yourself."

Ai had a hopeless look on her face as she struggled to find the right words to say, "Uh…what's your name?"

"Sasori."

"Sasori-sama…why are you here? I want to know your intentions."

The Suna nin's eyes narrowed at the woman, but he sighed. If Hana had led him there, then that would mean that she trusted him with something. But what – he didn't know.

"I followed their tracks from Suna after Yoshi and Yuki took them." Sasori summarised. "I had a bad feeling."

Ai held a gasp and then nodded her head, bowing it slightly, "Thank you very much for caring for Eirin-sama!"

"I didn't do anything like that." Sasori muttered. "Hana told me to come in here."

"Hana?" Ai's ears perked up at the sound of a familiar name. Her lips curled into a smile and she nodded happily. "I deem you trustworthy! I'll tell you what I know! Please save Eirin-sama!" Her voice changed dramatically from happy to pleading.

Sasori stood there, listening. He heard Eirin stir in her unconscious state.

"Before I tell you what the situation is now, I will need to inform you about her background. It is important that you do not tell anybody, as it may blow up into an international matter." Ai warned, staring at him sternly.

The child merely nodded once.

"The current feudal lord of the Land of Earth is old and doesn't have any children to succeed in his position as feudal lord. He has two siblings – an older sister and a younger brother. Eirin-sama is the feudal lord's younger brother's daughter, whilst the man known as F.L is the feudal lord's older sister's son. F.L is older than Eirin-sama by a decade or so, and was supposed to succeed.

"Due to an incident that brought down the illegibility of F.L, the seat was handed over for Eirin-sama until she got older. But due to the immense competition to become feudal lord, since it's not only them competing for the position, F.L wanted to get rid of Eirin-sama, as her obtaining that position would bring about ridicule and mocking to him and his family, which his pride couldn't stand. He'd rather kill his cousin than stain his reputation.

"Since Eirin-sama was born, Hana had been assigned as a bodyguard for her, and sometimes babysat her with us maids. She stayed with Eirin-sama for a long time, up until she was around 4 years, until she got the order to kill her, from F.L. Hana was formally working under F.L, even at that time. She was recommended by F.L to protect Eirin-sama.

"The incident that occurred was one that stained F.L's reputation; but it wasn't proven. I won't delve into that matter any further, as I believe there's no merit spreading rumours.

"Since Hana stayed with Eirin-sama for a long time, she didn't expect F.L to order for a killing. Even as she went for her mission to kill her, F.L had actually ordered another group of ninja to kill the rest of the family, ruling it under a 'horrific accident'. Hana realised that she was going to be killed along with the family and thus switched her loyalties, fighting off the other ninja. Unfortunately, a lot of maids and butlers died, as well as ninja. Eirin-sama's parents had passed away and there were only a handful of people that Hana was able to save.

"Hana is a brave woman…but back then, she was alone in fighting then. They were all strong enemies. They managed to capture me and imprisoned me here for many long years. They treated me well, but…F.L has a plan though I do not know what." The maid caught her breath and sighed gently.

Sasori's brown eyes flickered down to Eirin. His fingers brushed against her cheek. Unlike the wooden or ceramic puppets he owned, the colour and softness was completely different. It reminded him that she wasn't a puppet.

"You mentioned that the feudal lord was from the Land of Earth. Is Hana an Iwagakure nin?" He asked. If she was, it somewhat made sense that she was able to see through his jutsu.

"Hana was in Iwagakure for a long time to take care of Eirin-sama."

"But now she's in Sunagakure. What's the relationship between Chiyo and Hana?" Sasori glanced to the woman.

"Chiyo and Hana?" Ai questioned. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about."

Sasori stayed silent and just nodded once. _So the maid knows the past and why it became this way…I should ask Hana for more details._

"Sasori-sama, if I could ask you to please use your jutsu." Ai requested.

Sasori raised a brow, "Your reason being?"

"Soon, the other ninja will wake up, and it will be harder to escape. Also, there will be others coming soon to bring Eirin-sama into the Land of Earth. We're currently at the border. F.L wanted to have a nice chat to her." Ai explained.

 _Nice chat? Didn't he want to kill her?_ Sasori formed a few hand signs.

"I will follow Eirin."

"Please, please keep Eirin-sama safe! She hasn't done anything wrong!" Ai begged, bowing 90 degrees.

"Do the elders of every country and hidden village know of Eirin and F.L?" Sasori remembered how his grandmother already knew Eirin before she even met her.

"I am positive that the major hidden villages knew about Eirin-sama and F.L. That is why it would be an international affair if the other villages got involved." Ai shook her head, "Since a lot of them do not like F.L."

"…what does F.L stand for? Is that his name?" Sasori questioned. He suspected they were initials for something.

"F.L simply means _First Line_. His actual name is Ichirou-sama. _First Line_ is meant to stand for being the very first. In this case, the first in line for feudal lord."

"Aren't there other candidates?"

"Yes, but…F.L outshines them all, due to his talent and smarts."

Sasori hummed in response and completed his jutsu, blending in to his surroundings. Just as he finished it up, there was a loud knock on the door.

"Maid! Is she ready yet?"

"A-ah! Yes! She's ready!" Ai stammered in surprise. She glanced to Eirin once, before the middle of the room, then unlocked the door.

"We'll be taking her now." It was Yuki.

Sasori narrowed his eyes. He was sure that he had been unconscious just before. Did Hana's jutsu not inflict enough damage? The red head silently moved out of the way when Yuki came in to pick up Eirin.

"We'll be leaving now; we're taking you with us." Yuki tilted his head towards the door.

"Taking…me?" Ai's eyes widened.

"You'll be Eirin's personal attendant at the Lord's residence." He explained, halfway out the door.

"Understood, sir."

* * *

Hana closed her eyes, rubbing her temples. She was exhausted, and her wounds were being a pain and bleeding everywhere. She only managed to perform a simple medical jutsu on the wounds to make them stop bleeding. She didn't have the time to die from blood loss.

The kunoichi was currently in the desert of the Land of Wind. She was waiting for her chakra to recover so that she could use a summoning to fly her to Suna.

 _Those bastards…I don't get why they're still working for that prick._ Hana cursed mentally. She staggered in her step and stomped her foot onto the sand, steadying herself. _Get a grip, Hana! They've got Eirin, and you have to stop being a little shit and start being more productive!_

 _Shit…but isn't this what they want? Me to bring reinforcements? Tch…_ Hana made a face and bit her thumb, drawing blood. She formed a few hand signs and slapped it into the soft sand. The jutsu worked and in a poof, a large falcon had appeared in front of her.

"Hey there, long time no see, Tomi." She greeted with a smile.

"You look like shit." The falcon spoke, spreading her wings. "Hop on and tell me the situation."

"We're going to Suna. I need to see Chiyo."

"That old bat? She's still alive?"

"Tomi, be nice. Chiyo's not even that old. Let's go." Hana hopped onto the falcon's back and they flew. She filled the bird in with the details of what happened as they approached the village.

… _the only way I can help Eirin is to bring reinforcements. I can't do this alone, especially since F.L is pulling the strings._ Hana sighed and stroked the falcon's head.

"We're nearly there." Tomi dove down near the Kazekage's tower, landing on a rooftop.

"Thank you, Tomi!" Hana pet her head. "You mind staying here for a moment? I won't be long."

"Do what you like." Tomi yawned.

Hana nodded and quickly jumped to where Chiyo's house was. She didn't knock and went straight into Chiyo's room, turning on the lights and shaking her awake.

"What is it at this hour, Ebizu!?" Chiyo grumbled with annoyance. When her vision adjusted, she realised it wasn't her brother, but a friend. "Hana?! Why are you injured?!"

"There's no time to explain right now! We need to go now! Eirin's been kidnapped!" Hana spoke fast and urgently.

"Kidnapped…?" Chiyo's eyes widened and she tore the sheets off herself, ready to go. "I'll tell Sasori that—"

"Sasori's with her! He's infiltrated the place already!" Hana breathed.

"Sasori's with her?!" Chiyo exclaimed.

"I saw him at the hideout…he was using the Iwa nin's jutsu that makes him able to blend in to the background!"

"What are you waiting for?! Let's go!" Chiyo pushed Hana out to the balcony and they quickly went up to where the falcon waited.

"Chiyo, wait here! I'm going to get Yuno!" Hana said.

"Ah, yes! Hurry!"

Not a moment later, Yuno had come, and the 3 of them jumped onto the falcon.

"Where you guys going?" Tomi asked, soaring the sky.

"We're going to F.L's residence! In the Land of Earth!" Hana said.

"F.L's residence?" Yuno questioned. He had been sleeping when Hana had jumped in through his window and dragged him out of bed. "In the Land of Earth?"

"I just said that." Hana muttered. She ignored the male and turned to Chiyo, "Can you heal my wounds?"

"What do you take me for? Of course I can."

Yuno yawned and rubbed his eyes, turning the other way. It was really early in the morning, around 3 to 4.

 _My beauty sleep…_ Yuno sniffed.


	11. Puppet 11

Porcelain

Puppet #11

* * *

"Ah, Eirin…very good to see you again."

Eirin stumbled, but was supported by Ai. Her maid held her strongly to prevent her from falling.

The group consisting of Yuki, Ai and Eirin had left the hideout, and once they did, they were joined by Yoshi. They made their way deeper into the Land of Earth by bird summons performed by Yuki and Yoshi. Sasori had crept his way onto the bird that held Ai and Eirin.

After what seemed like a short trip, they arrived at a large residence near a town. It was surrounded by water and was very grand, both in design and size.

At that time, Eirin had started to shift more, eventually awakening, but completely out of it. She was dazed from the drug and didn't respond much to anybody. When they reached the castle, Yuki and Yoshi had led them to the hall where the meeting would be taking place.

"Who…?" Eirin placed a hand to her head, rubbing her temples. She looked up to see who was talking to her, but found it hard to adjust her vision.

Sasori glanced around the grand room – which was fitting for a noble, or someone related to the current feudal lord. From the door to the far end of the room was a long red carpet. At the end of the room sat a male on a throne, his legs crossed and leaning on his hand.

"Oh? Eirin? Is something the matter?" That person asked, standing up. He was stopped by Yuki and Yoshi.

"Please sit down, my Lord." Yuki shook his head.

Yoshi spoke, "The maid will lead her here. There is no need to worry."

The male sat back down, staring at the coming group with worry in his blue eyes. His hair was long and coloured black, tied in a low ponytail. He was young, but he didn't look that young either, Sasori noted.

 _Is this Ichirou?_ The red head thought cautiously. He glanced at Eirin, who seemed to be recovering quickly.

"I'm sorry but I don't think I know you…" Eirin said apologetically, gripping onto Ai's arm. "Have we met somewhere before?"

The male's brows raised in surprise, before he chuckled and waved his hand dismissively, "Eirin, Eirin, Eirin. I can't believe you forgot about me! Dear little sister, have you really forgotten about your brother?"

Eirin's green eyes widened and she felt like she was completely awake now. She stared at him in shock, and then at everyone else, who had impassive faces.

"Brother…?" She opened her mouth in shock and then closed it, not sure what to say.

"That's right. I am Ichirou. Please, just call me Nii-sama." The blue eyed male smiled.

 _That smile is creepy._ Sasori made a face.

"I don't have a brother though." Eirin persisted. She was definitely sure that she didn't have any siblings.

"Oh! My bad…I mean it's okay to call me Nii-sama. We're cousins, after all. But since we're cousins, isn't it the same as being siblings?" Ichirou related.

"Uh…" Eirin was unsure. She decided to change the topic, realising that she had a weird attire on. "Why am I here, Ichirou-san?"

"How rude! It's Nii-sama to you!" Yoshi snapped.

Ichirou raised his hand in objection to Yoshi. "It's fine."

Yoshi clicked his tongue in distaste.

"I actually wanted to speak to you." Ichirou stood up and made his way towards the smaller girl, ignoring what Yuki and Yoshi had to say. He kneeled down and sent a dazzling smile her way, admiring her features. "You have such pretty green eyes."

Eirin blushed, mumbling a gentle thank you. Ichirou took her hand in his and pulled gently, "Why don't we talk somewhere more private? I'd love to catch up with you."

"…uhm…okay…" Eirin agreed hesitantly. She wasn't sure whether or not to trust that guy. She had seen Yuki and Yoshi's face – and she knew that they were the ones who had assaulted her mother. "But, Ichirou-san…before we go have a chat, I just want to ask those two ninja something." She pointed to Yuki and Yoshi.

"Hm? Those two? That's okay. Why don't you ask them now?"

"Where is mother?"

Yuki and Yoshi glanced at each other, surprised that she had remembered. Yuki smiled, "She's resting inside this castle. You can visit her later."

 _He's lying._ Sasori deadpanned and shook his head. If only he could tell them now.

"Oh…okay…but…why did you hurt mother and I if you just wanted us to come here? We could have just visited without a struggle." Eirin pointed out.

Ai held back a smile. Sasori smirked.

Yoshi and Yuki narrowed their eyes, speechless at the girl's sharp mind. Ichirou found it amusing.

He laughed, "As expected of my little sister! A very smart girl, you are!"

"My Lord!" Yoshi spoke.

"Quiet!" Ichirou's tone had turned stone cold and he glared at the ninja.

Yoshi gulped and said no further.

Eirin felt a chill go down her spine. _He's scary…_

 _What was that?_ Sasori watched Ichirou for a long moment, deducing what kind of person he was under the guise of a caring and happy older cousin.

"Now, let's have our little chat. I'll ask the maids to bring in some tea and snacks so that we can eat." Ichirou dragged Eirin away into a room on the side.

"Ah, you guys can take care of him." Ichirou waved a hand absentmindedly before disappearing into the room with Eirin.

Once the door shut, Yuki and Yoshi sighed and placed their hands on their hips.

"That was tense." One of them muttered.

"Anyway, we should get rid of people who know about F.L." Yuki went behind the throne and came back with a sword. Yoshi chuckled and spread his fingers, turning them into spikes. It glistened in the light.

Ai shrieked, taking a few steps back.

Yuki and Yoshi went straight to where Ai and Sasori stood, but aimed for Ai first. She screamed and squeezed her eyes shut. But at the last second, the two ninja swerved direction and went towards Sasori, who jumped out of the way just in time.

"It's useless, kid! We can see you!" Yoshi shouted out, smirking. He used his sharpened fingers to attack Sasori, slashing at him from various angles.

The puppet user frowned and stopped the camouflage jutsu, finding that it was useless. He quickly jumped out of the way from the incoming attack and took out a scroll, summoning it.

Ai stumbled and fell from the impact. They were fighting with such strength, that there were shockwaves.

 _But…he's just a kid!_ Ai stared at Sasori with worry. He was faring well against Yuki and Yoshi, but he was mainly defending. She placed her hands together and squeezed her eyes shut, praying for both Eirin and Sasori's safety.

A hand was placed on Ai's shoulder, causing her to look up. Her eyes widened when she got a good look of who it was, but then gasped when her vision went black.

* * *

"It really has been a long time, Eirin." Ichirou nodded at the maid before she left and sipped his tea. He sighed in content when he drank some. "How have you been?"

Eirin watched him cautiously. He had dragged her into another room, which was just as fancy as the hall but a lot smaller, and they were having tea. It was strange.

"I've been well, Ichirou-san…but…what is there to talk about?" She asked.

Ichirou glanced at the female, "Well…there is a lot to talk about. Such as…if you know anything about Hana."

"Mother? Why mother?" Eirin asked.

"Well…there are some things that you might know that Hana might not." Ichirou chose his words carefully.

"Like what?"

 _Damn, I swear this kid is purposely making it hard._ Ichirou kept a smile on his face, "Such as…who she was working with a few years ago and such."

"How would I know that?" Eirin raised a brow. "Mother's here, right? Can't you just ask her yourself? I don't know anything about what you're talking about."

F.L's smile twitched and he breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself. "Ok, I'll do that. But later. I want to ask about you now."

"What did you want to ask me?"

"You are aware that you're adopted, right?"

Eirin raised a brow at him suspiciously, "I don't know how you know that, Ichirou-san, and I don't know why you're asking, but that isn't something to ask right off the bat."

 _This kid…!_ Ichirou's grip on the cup hardened, but not so much that it broke. _Calm down…it's just a kid._

Eirin's way of speaking and personality had somewhat changed in the years after she had met Sasori. Most of the time she would be a happy go-lucky girl, but at other times, she would have a sharp tongue, which she learnt off Sasori.

"But otherwise, yes, I am. I've been aware of that. How do you know that anyway?" Eirin grilled.

Ichirou kept a smile on his face, but he was bubbling with irritation and annoyance inside.

 _Why couldn't my cousin be an idiot?!_

* * *

"YUNO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Hana shouted, stomping to the male. He had just hit the maid, Ai, and rendered her unconscious.

"I'm making her unconscious, Hana. She'll get in the way." Yuno frowned. He picked the maid up and carried her to the side, whilst Hana watched him the entire time. She had to admit, he _did_ have a point.

"Oh…look who decided to show up!" Yoshi licked his lips, smirking.

Yuki's brow rose and he stared at Hana for a long moment, "You're all healed." He then saw Chiyo's face and his expression lit up in realisation like a lightbulb. "It must have been you."

Chiyo frowned and pointed at him, "Give me back my granddaughter!"

"She's not your granddaughter, old woman." Yuki pointed his sword at Chiyo. "She's the granddaughter of the current feudal lord of the Land of Earth."

"Nonsense! She is like my grandchild!" Chiyo dismissed his claims with a wave of her hand, tilting her chin up, "Now, tell me where she is!"

Yuki sighed and shook his head and pointed his sword elsewhere, to where Sasori stood. He had his strongest puppet out and was controlling them, defending himself. There wasn't any damage done to him, but it was also hard to see if he was having trouble, as his expression gave nothing away.

"Sasori?!" Chiyo exclaimed.

The red head just glanced at his grandmother and gave her a small nod.

"I think this little guy might need some help. Or else…well, I think he'll end up getting fed to the crocodiles." Yuki smiled eerily. "I'm pretty sure you might have seen them, had you flown over here by bird. They surround this castle."

Chiyo rolled up her sleeves and stomped her foot angrily. Her patience had run out, "Sasori, let's beat these wannabe ninjas!"

 _Is that even a thing a grandma should say…?_ Sasori sweat dropped and shook his head before nodding. He needed a little bit of help, considering that Yoshi and Yuki were a lot stronger than he thought. _They have to be at least ANBU level…_

"An old woman and a kid…what a combination." Yoshi chortled in laughter, "Are you going to beat us like that?! Don't make me laugh!" Yoshi attacked, leaving a large set of claw marks on the ground when his hand-claws hit. Chiyo and Sasori had jumped to safety and were preparing for their counterattack.

 _Now…where is she?_ Hana glanced around the place, trying to find the room she was looking for. She was very familiar with that castle, and knew where many things were. Unless they had a renovation or something of that sort, she would know where things were being hidden and held. Her eyes landed on the side, where she saw the secret door that blended in well with the wall. _I'm coming, Eirin!_

Hana quickly ran to the wall, dodging incoming attacks by Yoshi and Yuki when they had noticed. But their attention on Hana was mugged by the puppet users.

Yuno nodded in their direction and followed Hana. He could leave the fighting to the puppet users – he knew not to underestimate them.

Hana reached the wall and felt around for a door handle or some kind of switch, in which she found. She turned to Yuno, "I found it! We can now get through—!"

Hana's breath was taken away when she caught Yuno's fist. Her eyes widened but then they glared at him angrily, her face twisting into a pissed expression.

"You…!"

Yuno smiled, "I never did say that my loyalties lay with Sunagakure."


	12. Puppet 12

Porcelain

Puppet #12

* * *

"Tch…!" Hana sent a kick Yuno's way, but he managed to avoid it by bending backwards. His fist that was held in Hana's hand released and he grabbed a hold of her, pulling her forward. Hana grit her teeth when she saw the incoming punch. She turned her body and elbowed him in the ribs. She heard a satisfying crack, but then gasped out in pain. Yuno smirked and threw her to the back of the hall room.

Hana coughed, wiping her lip shakily. She glanced down at her arm and she winced just looking at it. That crack she heard wasn't the crack of his bones breaking. It was the crack of _her_ bones.

 _Thankfully it didn't snap in half…_ Hana ground her molars and stood up, doing some medical aid to her injured bones.

"You think I'm going to let you do that?" Yuno formed hand signs and slapped his hand to the ground, before a wave of water rose from the ground and went towards her.

The kunoichi clicked her tongue and used one hand to form a jutsu, which froze the wave of incoming water. She glared at Yuno, who was twirling a kunai around on his finger. "Why would you do this?! YUNO!"

Yuno whistled and caught the kunai with a shrug, "Why do I do this? Because I don't like you getting in the way of Ichirou-sama. You're a nuisance to him, ever since you betrayed him all those years ago."

"What…" Hana gasped, "How do you know about that?!" She exclaimed angrily.

"Well…I _was_ working for Ichirou-sama then, so of course I know." Yuno smirked, "I guess you really didn't know, huh…I'll tell you then."

"Tell me what? Why you're working for F.L? Don't give me that crap, I don't care! Why did you decide to become a Suna nin?!" Hana snapped.

"I was under orders to watch you and observe you. It was my task. Since you haven't seen my face before, it was the perfect plan." Yuno smiled and charged at her.

Hana took out a kunai and began to defend and attack him, all the while maintaining a conversation. "Watch me?! Please! F.L only wanted to know what happened to Eirin!"

"Eirin? She's a cute little one, isn't she? She's grown up well…but she was always in constant danger. Don't you think that it might've been better had she died by the hands of all those people you escorted on your C ranked missions?" Yuno nicked her thigh. "It would have been better for us! We're only here so that we can get rid of her!"

"She's only a child! It's not like she wants to become a feudal lord!" Hana gave him a deep cut to the face.

"It matters not if she wants to become a feudal lord…but the matter is the way she has indirectly embarrassed Ichirou-sama!" Yuno stabbed Hana in the shoulder, twisting it. The female's face contorted with pain and she grabbed his wrists, trying to pull it out of her.

"It wasn't even her fault!" Hana shouted in Yuno's face.

Yuno stared at her for a long moment, chuckling, "This is revenge. Revenge for being born. For being a nuisance to Ichirou-sama."

Hana quickly formed hand signs. A powerful wind swept Yuno away, forcing him to destroy a wall and slump down, coughing.

The woman pulled out the kunai and flung it to the side, panting heavily. Her arm had not been fully healed yet, and it hurt. She winced when she moved; the deep wound on her shoulder was painful.

Hana shifted in her step quickly and appeared in front of Yuno, condensing her chakra and energy into her leg and giving him a good kick in the stomach. He took the attack head on, but he didn't smash through the walls like he was supposed to.

 _The walls must be very thick…_ Hana concluded.

Yuno stood up, before he laughed and stared at Hana. She felt a chill go down her spine when she saw that part of his body had crumbled off like a piece of sand armour, behind it being his actual body. It crumbled off him. But Hana noticed that the cut she gave his cheek was still there. What she did notice after his armour had come off, was that one area of his leg had a chunk blown off, revealing his bone.

"What…?!" Hana seethed.

"This is my kekkei genkai. I didn't use this when we were back in Suna…but here it is! It allows me to harden my bones…so that they have the same density as the hardest metals." Yuno pointed to his leg bone, which was coloured a light gray.

 _So that's why my bone got hurt rather than his…if I put any more pressure on it then I really would have broken my arm!_ Hana narrowed her eyes, _what a troublesome ability._

"Now…let's continue, shall we?" Yuno took a step forward. Blood gushed out of the open chunk in his leg, but he didn't seem to mind.

 _Is this guy crazy?!_ Hana thought with wide eyes.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Are you going to beg for mercy?" He mocked.

"No way, Yuno. Why would I beg for mercy from a traitor?" Hana hissed.

"Nice of you to say that, Hana. Very nice." Yuno appeared in front of Hana, using a fist to punch at her. She blocked it, but realised that the power behind those punches were too powerful for her to block fully. She skidded to a halt, her foot hitting the wall behind her.

 _He's powerful…! Is it the density of the bones that are making his attacks heavier? His attacks weren't this heavy before…_ Hana thought. _I have to wrap this up quickly!_

Yuno shook his head and started walking towards her again. "My brothers and I were really disappointed in you, Hana. You were such a good ninja…even within Ichirou-sama's ranks. You were the best kunoichi. What happened, for you to betray him so?"

Hana ignored the comment about her, but focused more on the part about Yuno. He had stated it like his brothers were also in league with Ichirou. "Your brothers?! Do they work for Ichirou as well?!"

"My brothers? Well…you _were_ captured by them, you know." Yuno smiled at her, throwing a dangerous kick her way. It destroyed the wall and revealed the other side, which was the hallway.

"I was captured by them…?" Hana paused for a second, dodging the devastating kick. "You mean…Yoshi and Yuki are your brothers?!" She exclaimed loudly.

"That's right. We're actually triplets. I'm the youngest, whilst they're the two oldest. Didn't you ever wonder why our names all started with 'Y'?" Yuno looked a little disappointed.

"Who would've thought…!" Hana disappeared and quickly formed hand signs, appearing in front of Yuno and slapping her hand down on his chest. Yuno got ready to grab her, but abruptly stopped when his body was engulfed in fire. He screamed and tried to grab the woman, but she had already jumped back.

Watching him burn, Hana hit the ground on her knee, holding her shoulder. She panted heavily and stared at her singed hands, which were shaking from the impacts she got from Yuno.

The fire went out and Yuno hit the ground in a messed up heap, charred and emitting smoke. He didn't get up.

Hana coughed up blood and her vision started to blur. She clenched her jaw and realised that the kunai that had stabbed into her was poisoned.

 _Shit…!_

* * *

"My, my…she really is fighting all her best for Eirin." Chiyo smiled at the fire and ordered her puppets to slay the clones that Yoshi and Yuki had summoned. Sasori was tag teaming with Chiyo and had managed to sneak poison into the claw hands of Yoshi when they exchanged blows. Yuki was a little harder; they weren't able to touch him. His swordsmanship was excellent.

Sasori saw that Hana had fallen and narrowed his eyes, throwing several poisoned kunai and shuriken at Yoshi, who had been rendered useless when one of Chiyo's puppets managed to stop him from movement.

As expected, Yuki moved in to protect his brother, deflecting every single weapon that was aimed at him. Sasori smirked and pulled his arm back before throwing it forward again. The kunai and shuriken that had been suspended in mid-air not even a metre away from them had gone after them again.

"Strings…!" Yuki's reflexes were fast enough that he was able to deflect them all, but this time, cutting the connection between Sasori and the weapons.

The red head clicked his tongue and went again, but this time, he used multiple puppets to attack from all angles, all with different special abilities.

 _I can't use up all my chakra now…_ he thought with an impassive expression.

Yoshi gasped and clutched his hand with great pain. It was pulsing hotly in his hand, as if it was burning. He growled aggressively before his eyes nearly popped out of his skull, seeing it go black.

"WHAT IS THIS!?" He shouted, waving the darkened arm around frantically.

Yuki side stepped and managed to dodge the incoming puppet attacks, going to his brother. He grabbed his arm and inspected it for a second, eyes narrowed, "I'll cut your arm off for you."

"What, why?!"

"It's poisoned and it's spreading." Yuki readied his sword at Yoshi and he slashed down. It was too late before he realised that, instead of cutting his arm off, he had slashed Yoshi from the shoulder down.

Yoshi shouted out in pain and snapped at his brother. Yuki ignored him and his sword rose above his shoulders again, stabbing down.

"Tch." Chiyo frowned and moved her puppet out of the way, just before it got hit by Yuki.

Yoshi gasped for breath and held his wound, glaring at the puppet users.

Sasori smirked inwardly. His grandmother had just gotten the puppet to move Yoshi just before Yuki had struck, causing him to harm his own kin.

Yuki flicked his sword off to the side, spraying blood on the ground. He sighed and took a few steps towards Sasori, finding that he was the weaker of the puppet users.

"I'll cut you down first." His fingers glided down the back of the sword. He readied it, but before he could move, his knees and back were hit with multiple sharp objects. He inhaled sharply, stabbing his sword into the ground before turning around, seeing Sasori's gaze away from his face.

"Hana…!" Yuki growled lowly.

Hana was still on the ground, but she was awake. Blood ran down her chin as she raised her arm. Her eyelids were heavy and she wanted rest, but she couldn't. Yuki felt the sharp object come out of his body and realised that she had formed blood bullets from the blood previously on his sword.

"HANA!" Yuki shouted, pulling his sword from the ground.

"…shut…up…!" The female coughed up blood but ignored the pain from sheer willpower. She used the blood from her opponents and formed a sharp blood spear, which she splattered all around the ground around him.

Sasori and Chiyo took this chance to attack Yuki. Unfortunately, he blocked them and shredded the puppets into useless pieces of wood. He clicked his tongue when he saw that Yoshi had been knocked out or even killed, a blood spear right through his chest.

 _He dead yet?_ Sasori thought coldly. He was a little annoyed that it took this many people to take down one of them, and that his skills were still incomparable to his grandmother's.

Chiyo summoned many more puppets and sent them to attack Yuki with their best shot. She was panting, having used a lot of chakra. Sasori summoned a few more, but the ones that were more dangerous, equipped with his latest invention of dangerous poisons.

 _The ones that are L1…_ Sasori thought. He mixed them into the cracks of the other puppets, blending them in. His expression darkened and he smirked, _let's see what you can do about this!_

* * *

"What's that sound? It's loud outside." Eirin commented, a teacup in her hands. She hadn't actually eaten or drunk anything yet. She wasn't even hungry. And she had a feeling it wasn't tea time either.

"Oh, it's probably just some traps going off from the intruders." Ichirou waved his hands.

"But that's the way of the hall." Eirin tilted her head, "I thought you owned this castle. How do you not know the layout?"

 _SHE'S MOCKING ME!_ Ichirou clenched his teeth together in utter annoyance at the small child.

"Maybe they started fighting?" He suggested. He needed to ask her a few things before he could kill her.

"If they did, I'm pretty sure that you guys would win." Eirin sighed and placed the cup onto the table. She then giggled and wagged her finger side to side when she noticed that Ichirou wanting to say something, "I'm kidding! I think that mother would come and save the day. She wouldn't want people to get hurt for no reason, you know."

"…is that so?" Ichirou's lips were forcibly turned up so that he didn't frown.

 _This is proving harder than I thought._ Ichirou mentally rubbed his temples.

Eirin stared at him for a long moment, wondering what the hell he was doing. It looked like he was going to frown, but he was smiling. So which was it? Or was he just a weirdo?

The black haired child knew something was up, and the only way to know what was to ask Ichirou indirectly. "Ichirou-san is strange. Did you forget that mother was staying in this castle?"

"Ah, yes…Hana is indeed staying in this castle. But she's currently resting, so I don't think she'll be fighting at all." He responded wearily.

"Okay."

"Eirin…you are aware the current feudal lord of the Land of Earth is your grandfather, right?" F.L asked.

"But the only grandfather I know is Ebizu-san." Eirin replied.

"No…this is your real grandfather."

"I haven't seen him before. Is he nice?"

"…you could say that. Since he's the feudal lord, he holds a very important position in the country. His successors are his grandchildren."

"Are you saying you want me to go be a feudal lord, Ichirou-san? I don't think I can, since I don't know the guy and I don't want to be feudal lord."

Ichirou was silent for a long moment, before he inhaled and exhaled tiredly. "Eirin, you're a candidate for it—"

"But I never signed up for this."

"Don't worry, I'm also a candidate."

"You are, Ichirou-san? Oh yeah…you did say that I was your cousin. So that means that you must also be the grandson of grandpa feudal lord!"

"Yes. But the position I'm in is currently…a little bad. I need your help so that I can be feudal lord."

"Why me? I can't really do anything."

Ichirou forced himself to stop his aggravated sigh, "But you can. You can write a will that dictates me as your successor."

"Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

"Eirin, right now, your position as a candidate is higher than mine."

"Oh."

"All you have to do is write the will and hand it over to me, but make sure that you have a blood seal on it so that they can confirm it's yours."

"A will? But doesn't that mean that I have to die?"

Ichirou abruptly stopped and stared at her for a long moment. He closed his eyes and a chuckle reverberated through his body. Soon, his body was shaking from his laughter as he threw his head back, running a hand through his hair.

Eirin stared at him weirdly. She was right about him – she didn't trust him. She was right not to let her guard down.

"Anyway, Ichirou-san, if that's all you had to discuss, I'll be going now." Eirin stood up and went towards the door.

She stopped when she felt a sharp sting on her cheek and a metal dart hit the door. Eirin didn't flinch but kept her ground, looking over her shoulder.

"Did you want to play darts, Ichirou-san?" She was surprised that she didn't appear frightened, even though deep down she was freaking out. She was channelling her inner Sasori, who was oblivious and impassive to many things. It kept her level headed throughout the chat with Ichirou.

"Darts…? That's an excellent idea."


	13. Puppet 13

Porcelain

Puppet #13

* * *

Eirin nearly had a heart attack when Ichirou started to throw steel darts at her. It destroyed the walls and cut her skin, but she didn't take any direct hits so it was okay.

 _I'm alright, I'm alright, I'm alright, I'm alright…!_ Eirin's heart leaped out of her chest when she saw one coming straight for her face. Her knees gave out from shock and she hit the ground, the dart missing her by chance.

 _I'm going to die if he keeps doing this! I don't even have anything to defend myself with!_ The 11 year old looked around frantically, her cool demeanour from before disappearing.

"I thought you wanted to play darts?" Ichirou stood up and walked over to where Eirin had dropped from. He had enough of the game of words and would much rather get his way by force.

Eirin didn't dare say a word and crawled away from where she was before, behind the comfortable chairs, and migrated to the back of another chair. She had to get away from him – as far as possible!

 _So my cousin wants to kill me and he's thinking we're playing darts?! I'M NOT A DART BOARD!_ Eirin mentally screamed. She was freaking out and her heart was beating erratically.

"So you were here, dear cousin of mine." Ichirou smiled when he looked over the chair he sat on. He had a steel dart in his hand and waved it near the child's face carelessly, "Why don't you just give it up already? All I want is your blood seal and will, then we're all good. I don't even need to kill you if you do that."

 _Weren't you going to kill me anyway?_ The girl thought bitterly.

"Last time I checked, you never said anything along the lines of that." Eirin channelled her inner Sasori again. She had to keep up a brave face, or else it'd be all over for her. "You're going to kill me anyway, because I'm a hindrance."

"Oh?" Ichirou raised a brow, surprised by her chance of demeanour. "You really are a lot smarter than you look. Why are you running away then?"

"Gee, I don't know, to not get killed?" Eirin snapped.

Ichirou stabbed the dart into the chair and forcibly grabbed her wrist, pulling her up and throwing her onto the sofa. She landed with a light thud, frowning slightly when she saw Ichirou pull something out from his clothes.

"Here's some paper." He placed the paper and pen on the table. "Write your will and I'll let you go."

"What, so no blood seal?"

"That should be included too."

Eirin just sat there, unmoving. She knew she couldn't escape right now, and even if she did, she'd either run straight into a battlefield or she would be lost within the castle walls.

 _I HAVE NO WAY OUT?!_ Eirin screamed mentally. _Why…?_

She gulped thickly when she saw the paper in front of her.

 _It's all or nothing._

* * *

Most of Sasori's puppets had been sliced up, but they had done their duty. He smirked when Yuki started to feel the effects of the poison.

"W-what…the…" Random parts of Yuki's body started to go purple and blue, before slowly going black. "What the heck did you do?!" His left arm was the first victim.

"It's poison." Chiyo answered simply. "The same thing that happened to the other guy…but worse."

Sasori eyed his grandma with an impassive expression. She had just stolen what he wanted to say. He dismissed it and jumped off to where Hana was. He let his grandma deal with Yuki.

Hana was slumped on the ground, breathing heavily. She had her hand clutched to her chest when Sasori neared. He kneeled down and took something out of his pocket, having snitched it off one of the brothers when they were fighting.

"Sa…sori…" Hana pushed herself up so that she was in a sitting position.

The Suna nin was surprised at the incredible amount of willpower she had. She was poisoned badly, but she was still able to perform jutsu and even push herself up, even though she was deteriorating fast inside?

"I have the antidote." He stabbed it into her neck, finding that the fastest way for it to start working was to place it into an artery.

Hana didn't even flinch and waited until all the liquid had been emptied. While waiting for it to work, Sasori pulled Hana up, getting her arm to go over his shoulders as he steadied her.

"You seem to know this place. Where is the door to Eirin?" Sasori asked, walking to the wall in which the pair of cousins left to.

Hana's breathing was steadying and she started to heal her shoulder. She stared at the wall for a while, before finding what she needed. The kunoichi pointed to it, "You have to slide it."

Sasori found the latch, which was cleverly concealed, and slid it open, only to have his half lidded eyes go wide when he saw what was happening inside.

Inside the room, Eirin was on the ground, with Ichirou on top of her, his hands tightly gripped around her neck. Eirin was squirming and trying to kick him, but to no avail. Ichirou didn't even mind the struggling.

"Sa…o….i…" Eirin managed to choke out. Tears brimmed from her eyes as she clawed at Ichirou's hands, drawing a never-ending stream of blood.

"What do you think you're doing to my daughter?" The ground under Hana cracked as she made her way over to where Ichirou and Hana were. Ichirou narrowed his eyes at the female but didn't let go of Eirin, instead using one hand to bring out a steel dart to point at the child.

"What needs to be done." Ichirou responded.

Hana kicked his hand that held the steel dart so hard and so fast that it was a blur. Ichirou didn't even know what hit him until the dart was caught by Sasori. He screamed in pain, staring at his fingerless hand. The palm was deformed.

"Y-YOU!" Ichirou bellowed.

"Get off her." Hana seethed.

"Mo….er…." The moment Eirin spoke, Ichirou squeezed tighter, finally forcing her to go unconscious. He smirked and still held onto the young girl's neck.

"If…you kill me…SHE COMES WITH ME!"

Sasori took a few silent steps forward and used chakra strings to wrap around Ichirou's limbs. He added a few additional strings to his fingers, controlling them to be plucked off Eirin's neck. Sasori controlled Ichirou like a puppet, and once he was off of Eirin, Hana went in to see if the girl was alright.

Sasori observed the state Eirin was in – he honestly thought she would have accumulated more cuts and bruises since she was the prime target, but that didn't happen. His expression twisted to anger when he saw the bruises that Ichirou inflicted upon her neck, as well as the cuts.

"Die."

Ichirou was unable to say anything in response. His head rolled on the ground. Sasori glared at it with a deep hatred, letting the body slump when his chakra strings were retracted.

Hana didn't even look up to see what Sasori did. She already had a good idea.

"Eirin! Eirin!" She shook her daughter gently, trying to pry her awake. Eirin's eyes remained closed and she didn't stir.

"How is she?!" Chiyo rushed to the scene, out of breath. She had a few cuts here and there. The woman kneeled down and inspected the girl's condition.

"There's some internal bleeding, but other than that, she's just knocked out. She's not dead." A fading green light appeared around Chiyo's hands so that she could start to heal. The light vanished in less than a second and Chiyo cursed mentally. "I don't have enough chakra!"

"Use mine." Sasori placed his hands on top of his grandmother's and proceeded to use his chakra. Chiyo stared at him in surprise before she smiled knowingly, starting the healing process.

"I heard about Yuno." Chiyo started. She didn't look at Hana due to the concentration on Eirin's healing.

"I don't think you heard about it…I think you saw it." Hana leaned her head on the back of the sofa, closing her eyes. Eirin's head was on a pillow. "He was there when you guys were fighting."

"He was a traitor…a traitor…" Chiyo murmured the words gently.

Sasori glanced over at her. He was thinking, the information swirling in his head. He was trying to connect the dots, but there was still a huge gap missing. "What did you two do during the time of attack 7 years ago?"

"7 years ago?" Hana whispered, opening one eye. She glanced at Sasori, then closed her eye again, "7 years ago was when Eirin's family was taken right before her eyes. I'm sure you heard from Ai…"

"I did."

"Yeah…Ichirou was the one that ordered that assassination. He's a person of complete power, but he himself…is weak. That's why you were so easily able to kill him. Anyway…Chiyo…your grandmother…knew me before I worked for Ichirou." Hana explained, her voice tired, "I was…originally a Suna nin…but then I became an Iwa nin and donned their symbol…working under Ichirou…but back then I didn't know…how corrupt he was. I went back to Suna…and your grandmother helped me achieve this."

"You had to take them on by yourself while protecting Eirin. How were you able to still go through the border?"

"You remember…that underground passage?" Hana opened her eyes. "I went through there…because it is connected to the Land of Earth…"

"That passage?"

"Yeah…it was…hard to get there…but…easier to get out…Chiyo helped me. I had called for her help…and she let us take refuge…in Suna…my hometown." Hana explained.

"Eirin wasn't able to remember any of her memories at that time. You were very young as well, Sasori, so you probably don't remember this, but you've met Eirin before when you were younger." Chiyo continued, "But you two didn't meet again until she was running away from one of Hana's angry rejected proposers." Hana grunted in response.

Sasori stared at Eirin's face for a long moment, remembering when he had met her. It was by pure coincidence, but it was enough to spark a relationship somewhat akin to friendship.

Hana had started sleeping on the side, getting a well-deserved rest.

"Ouch…" Eirin groaned lightly and opened her green eyes, staring right up at Sasori. He was leaned over, so he was perfectly in her line of vision. "Sasori?" She croaked. Noticing her voice was weird, she placed a hand on her neck, feeling it hurt with every touch.

"Don't move. We're healing you." Sasori moved his hands so that it was on the sides of her neck, just barely touching. Chiyo placed her hands on top of his and they started healing her bruises.

Eirin was reminded of what happened in the room before they came in. Her eyes started to tear up and her vision went blurry. Chiyo stared at with wide eyes, wondering why she was going to cry.

Tears streamed down the side of her face as she hiccupped and sobbed. She was so relieved that they came for her – that they were there to save her when she was in trouble. She had been so frightened by the man that was supposedly her cousin, and the near-death experience was traumatizing.

"T-t-t-thank y-you!" She covered her eyes with her hand.

Sasori asked, "Eirin, what happened before we came?"

"H-he told me to s-sign a p-paper with my w-will…b-but I t-tried to g-get away with a p-pen…he ch-chased me…and I f-fell…t-then he started to c-choke m-me…" Eirin tried to speak in a clear voice, but it came out as a whiny sob.

"You tried to hurt him with a pen?" Sasori raised a brow. Eirin hummed in response.

Hana's eyes opened and she blinked herself awake, hearing somebody crying.

Sasori moved one hand and placed it on Eirin's hand, bringing it away from her face, "You're safe now. You can stop crying."

Eirin was startled by his words, but then started to cry harder, making him blink in hopelessness that she didn't stop crying. She held onto Sasori's hand the whole time.

Chiyo and Hana exchanged tired glances at the cute gesture between the two, not wanting to interrupt. Chiyo had finished up the healing process.

Hana changed into a kneeling position, "Eirin, I'm going to carry you now." She pried Sasori's hand out of her daughter's grip and held Eirin in front of her. She turned to the others, "We should leave now. Make sure to take Ai with us as well."

Once on the roof of the castle, Hana summoned the falcon, Tomi, to carry them back to Suna.

The sun rose above the landscape, illuminating the new day.

"It's hard to believe that everything happened just last night and this morning." Hana sighed in content. Everything ached, but she had to wait until she got back to Suna for a rest.

When they arrived back in Suna, they bid farewell to Tomi, who disappeared in a poof.

"Eirin." Sasori approached Eirin, who was still held by Hana. She stopped and waited for the red head to talk. He rummaged through his clothes and pulled out a familiar red head puppet toy, placing it on Eirin's lap. "You wouldn't want to lose that." He lazily waved before he went off.

Eirin stared at the toy, remembering how she had lost it just outside the walls of Suna. She hugged it to her chest tightly, mumbling a gentle 'thank you'.

Hana just smiled knowingly, staring at the back of Sasori's head.

 _Someone who would look out for her…even though they won't ever admit it._


	14. Puppet 14

Porcelain

Puppet #14

* * *

Ai gently stroked Eirin's forehead. She was to stay in the hospital until she was discharged properly, much like Hana as well. Chiyo and Sasori had sustained light injuries, so they only needed to go for a check-up. Hana was in a different room and thus, Ai offered to look after her.

"Eirin, how much have you seen with those eyes?" Ai murmured. She placed her hand back onto her lap, stretching her fingers and adjusting her sleeve. The maid's eyes looked to the ceiling, wondering how long her mistress would be there.

She stood up and loomed over Eirin, adjusting her hair and clothes so that she could sleep more comfortably. It was a habit hard to erase. Ai smiled at the cuteness of Eirin, seeing that she had grown up well.

* * *

Sasori stared at the puppet he had finished in one day. He stared at it for a long time before frowning and placing it onto the table with a sigh.

 _This isn't right._

The puppet was supposed to look like Eirin, but no matter how much he tried, even if he replicated the hair, eyes and skin perfectly, it was missing something. He did love eternal beauty and wished to make everything in relation to that, but the object right in front of him, even though it was eternally beautiful, he disliked it.

He imagined Eirin's smile and bursts of happiness, finding himself smiling. He shook his head and wiped the smile off his face the minute he realised, rubbing his temples in frustration.

 _The hell?_

He got off the chair and went straight to the hospital to check up on her. He found it better to have the living embodiment rather than the puppet.

He didn't even bother to knock on the door. He strode in easily, but his eyes widened and he stopped abruptly when he saw the scene in front of him. His gray-brown eyes went so wide that it looked like plates.

"You…!" Sasori hissed through his teeth.

Ai had her a hand right through Eirin's chest, electricity pulsing through it. Ai's previous warm aura had been replaced with a coldness that could freeze the room over. Blood spilled onto the bed and Eirin was still, her face showing a mixture of pain and shock.

"Oh whoops…looks like you saw me." Ai pulled out her arm, throwing the child back onto the bed. She licked the blood and stared at Sasori while doing so.

Sasori immediately wrapped his chakra strings around each limb so tightly that it looked like the life was squeezed out of them.

"Who are you?!" He lost his normal cool levelheadedness and growled lowly. He was beyond angry.

"Why are you so angry? She wasn't even your friend, was she?" Ai shrugged and chuckled.

Sasori didn't reply to her verbally and instead he sliced it. No blood came out, but rather, the clang of metal dropped to the floor after being cut.

"Metal…?" He stared at the woman, but realised that she was laughing, her voice changing from feminine to robotic. She emitted a heat from her body, breaking the chakra strings as well as burning off her clothes, face and body – but under it was a metal body.

"I'm a robot, you see." It spoke with a chilling laughter.

"A robot…?!" Sasori clenched his teeth.

 _They have inventions like these already!?_ He realised that he didn't have any puppets with him at that moment since he had just come from the puppet lab. _Tch!_

"You all were completely fooled…Yuno was incompetent…but I…AM NOT!" The robot charged at Sasori with a speed that even he could barely track. It wasn't long before the robot appeared in front of him, wearing a huge smirk on its face, its only arm emitting sparks from electricity.

 _Shit…! So it's in league with Ichirou?!_ Sasori cursed mentally. He didn't see any of this coming – he was about to die, by the hands of a robot no less.

The robot stabbed through a piece of puppet that Sasori had been substituted with.

"Sasori! Are you alright?!" Hana put down the red head and panted, holding her shoulder. Hana had jumped in through the window after seeing what was happening on the opposite end. She stood on the opposite side of the room from the robot.

"I'm…fine…" He said slowly, eyes wide.

"I'll deal with her. Chiyo, you take Eirin!" Hana cracked her knuckles, fuming. She had taken one look at Eirin in a pool of her own blood and something inside her just snapped.

Sasori stood up and looked around the room – what could he use instead of his puppets? He was shaken from what he had just saw. Normally it wouldn't have affected him since he saw it a lot in his career, but this time, it was different. Like Hana, something just snapped.

Chiyo broke the window, jumping into the room. The robot observed the new intruder and smirked.

"You can't save her…she's dead!" It laughed maniacally. It was a bone chilling laugh.

Chiyo frowned, "Why would you do this!?" She held Eirin up and immediately started healing her so that she wouldn't lose any more blood. She could feel the faint heartbeat that Eirin still had – she was still alive!

"I'm an independent robot under Ichirou-sama. I was never the maid of Eirin. This 'Ai' died when she was killed in the family assassination." The robot chuckled and hopped on one leg.

Sasori was frozen in his spot. If Hana didn't call out his name, he would have been stuck there, just staring at the situation.

"Sasori! Control them like a puppet! You don't have any puppets here, do you?" Hana whispered to the male.

Sasori nodded, feeling a cold sweat cover his body. He wiped it off and sent his chakra strings to the robot, who jumped out of the way at the last minute.

"You can't kill me!" The robot hopped towards Chiyo and Eirin, sending an attack their way, "DIE!"

"Your opponent is me!" Hana kicked the robot into the wall, leaving a dent in the side of its body.

Sasori set up string traps around the area, but only in areas that he thought that the robot would go.

Hana went in again, using a fire jutsu to burn through some parts of the metal body.

"You're annoying!" It went ahead and punched Hana in the shoulder, before sending a kick into her abdomen.

The kunoichi gasped out in pain and gritted her teeth, making up her mind to tear the robot into smithereens. She converted her chakra into her fingertips, condensing it so thickly that the air around her turned hot.

"I SHOULD NEVER HAVE TRUSTED YOU…!" Hana lurched off her feet and went towards the robot, slashing at it with her hand.

The robot dodged and hopped near Sasori, setting out to kill him. The red head had a smirk on his face when the robot went into his trap – the strings wrapped around its body and held it still. The robot tried to burn through it again, but it didn't work as Sasori changed the chakra element from earth to water. Before the robot was able to electrify its way out of the strings, Hana sliced right through its head and body, destroying the central system that controlled movement.

The woman didn't stop there, and continued to slice it up until it was nothing but tiny scraps on the ground.

"Stupid robot…taking Ai's identity like that…!" Hana hissed, stomping on a section of the robot face.

Sasori quickly went over to where Chiyo and Eirin were, ignoring Hana's rage even though he wanted to join in.

"Is she…?!" Sasori's voice held worry.

Chiyo's eyes widened at the emotional change in Sasori's voice – she hadn't heard him speak so emotionally in so long. The grandmother nodded her head and smiled at her grandchild. "Eirin is going to be fine. She's still alive. That thing didn't pierce through her heart – coincidentally."

Sasori let out a sigh of relief that he didn't even know he had been holding. He shook his head and turned to look up when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks for helping me out back there." Hana grinned. "I got to vent out my anger at the piece of junk."

"You're hurting my shoulder." Sasori glanced at his shoulder, feeling it about to break from the strong grip.

Hana let it go and laughed nervously. "I guess I'm still angry…" She muttered a few words under her breath and went to the side of the bed, where she was closer to Eirin. She stroked the side of her face, a sad smile on her face. "It must be hard to be targeted for something…that you are completely innocent over."

* * *

Sasori stared at the puppet of Eirin he had made. It was still on the table, waiting to be played with. He picked it up and stared at it for a long moment, wondering what he should do with it.

The puppet itself was not smiling. Sasori stared at the other puppet on the table – but this time, it was the one that belonged to Eirin. He had seen it on the table next to her hospital bed and took it with him. He didn't even know why.

For a long while, he just stared at them. He didn't know what to do with them. He looked to the Sasori puppet and decided to change the impassive face into something else. He threw the puppet of Eirin away, deciding to start another one.

* * *

"How is she?" Hana knocked on the open door of Eirin's hospital room, signalling her entrance. She held a small bouquet of flowers.

Chiyo, who sat on a chair next to the bed, turned to face the worried mother. "She's doing fine. She's lost a lot of blood, so we had to give her transfusions."

"…I see. That's a relief. When will she be discharged?" Hana pulled a chair from the corner of the room and sat next to Chiyo, handing her the flowers. The grandmother put them into the water filled vase.

"Not too soon. Maybe up to a week or so, or longer…"

Hana sighed and rested her chin on her palm. Regret lingered in her golden eyes, "…this happened because I was ignorant. I can't believe I didn't realise that Ai was no longer Ai. I should have known…when Yuno didn't kill her, but rather 'knocked her out'. If it was an enemy, he would have killed them…no matter who they were." She buried her face in her hands, sighing dramatically.

Chiyo observed her and patted her back, "It's over now. Don't blame yourself."

"But she nearly died because of that stupid blunder…!"

"But she didn't. Honestly, it's a miracle."

"A miracle…does such a thing even exist in a world like this?"

"It sure does. Your daughter is a living miracle."

Hana lifted her head up, shocked by those words. Indeed, when she thought back on it, it seemed as if it was nothing but trouble. People targeting her, trying to kill her…but she was alive on top of it all.

"It truly is…" Hana began to shed tears.

Sasori stopped at the door, seemingly unable to go in because of the atmosphere. He awkwardly shuffled in, then shuffled out of the doorway.

Hana and Chiyo both seemed to notice his presence, as they looked his way. The red head just stood there, holding something in his hands.

"Sasori? Are you here to visit Eirin too?" Hana smiled, wiping a tear.

He nodded slowly, walking in. The young puppet user went over to the vase that stood on the window sill and placed the things he was holding there, sitting against the glass.

"That's…" Hana's eyes widened and she couldn't help but grin. Chiyo chuckled silently.

"I…am weak." Sasori had his back towards the female members of the room. He was staring at the flowers and replaying the previous battle in his head. Even though everything that happened a few days ago was in actuality just the night and part of the day, it felt like a very long time.

"That robot…wasn't a puppet. My puppets were useless…" His voice was soft and he was mumbling, but the pair of females could pick up what he was saying with their ninja-trained ears.

Chiyo and Hana didn't say a word. They knew that Sasori was mulling over something internally, and that it was best to leave him to think for it himself.

The child turned around, eyes downcast. He glanced at Eirin. The battles that he fought were on a completely different level to those of Chunin missions. He had met with a sense of failure, even though he had fought his best.

 _Stronger…_ Sasori thought. _I need to get stronger._

He glanced at the two puppets that he had placed next to the vase. He had made and fixed them up as a pair.

A puppet of himself, and a puppet of Eirin. Both reflected the features of the people they were based on; one mimicked the red hair and the wide, gray-brown eyes of the puppet user, and the other reflected the emerald green eyes, dark hair and porcelain skin of the puppet lover.

Sasori had found the missing link.

Before he visited Eirin, he worked tirelessly to finish it, perfecting every small detail until he was satisfied.

That's why, on the puppets' faces…they held a smile. A smile for the days to come, a smile for the end of misfortune.

A smile for Eirin.


	15. Puppet 15 - Extra

Porcelain

Puppet #15 - Extra

* * *

"Sasori, where are you going?" Eirin questioned. She tilted her head to the side and stared at him with her green eyes.

"To the battlefield." The red head explained.

"Why?" She asked.

"War." He responded. He watched her expression turn to shock, then worry, then sadness.

"Is Granny going too?"

"Yeah."

"…please come back safely, Sasori." Eirin pressed her lips together and fidgeted with the item she held in her pocket, wondering if she wanted to give it to him or not.

He seemed to notice and raised a brow, "What is it?"

Having been caught, Eirin jumped and laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck, "Uh…I…have, uh, something for you." She quickly took the item out and pushed it into Sasori's chest, looking down.

The puppet user blinked a few times. It wasn't a surprise that Eirin was giving him something, since she seemed to do that a lot. He still had random trinkets here and there that she had gotten him.

Taking the item, he placed the 13 year old girl's hand down. He stared at the item, realising that it was a small puppet of Eirin.

"Why did you give me a puppet of you?" Sasori questioned. He was always surprised at what she did.

"Uh, well…if you ever get lonely out there, uh, you could look at that and think of me?" Eirin didn't even know what she was saying – her mind was a jumbling mess.

Sasori appreciated the gesture and nodded his head in thanks. He placed it inside his chest pocket. "I'll keep it."

Eirin broke out in a grin and jumped onto him to give him a big hug. He stumbled a bit for balance but didn't fall.

"Eirin, what are you—"

"Stay safe, Sasori…! Please stay safe…" Even though she was mumbling into his shoulder, he heard it all. He didn't return the hug and stared ahead, wondering what to say to her so that she wouldn't worry.

"I'll be fine." He stated.

Eirin let go of him and sent him a bright smile, "I think you will be too!"

 _Then why the hell were you worrying?_ Sasori deadpanned.

He saw his grandmother giving him the thumbs up when he changed his direction of vision. His eye twitched.

"Are you here to see us off, Eirin?" Chiyo grinned at the female, coming up from behind.

She nodded, "Yes! Since mother's already out there, I wanted to send my regards as well as see you two off."

"How sweet of you, Eirin." The grandmother smiled.

"Please stay safe! Tell mother that I'll be waiting when she comes back!" Eirin waved as Sasori and Chiyo went off to join in on the war. "I'll be waiting for your return!"

Eirin stood alone, seeing their backs from a distance. The smile had dropped from her expression as she went home.

It was lonely – her mother had been gone for a long time; she had left a month or so before Sasori and Chiyo.

"…what do I do now?" Eirin wondered. She felt so worried – she knew the casualties of war – people die and people come back injured. It was horrible to see all this – she didn't want anyone to go through any of that.

She put her hand into her pocket and pulled out the second half of the pair of puppets. It was one of Sasori. She stared at it for a long time, wondering how things were going on the other side, even if they had just left.

These puppets were a lot smaller than the ones that Sasori had made and fixed 2 years ago. They were created by Eirin, having wanted a small puppet so she could carry it everywhere – it was like a good luck charm.

Eirin smiled and placed the small Sasori puppet in front of the Eirin puppet Sasori had made a few years ago.

"I hope your twin is a good luck charm too."

* * *

Sasori stared at the small puppet of Eirin for a long while as he rested with the people he travelled with.

 _She's smiling…_ Sasori thought. He quickly placed it back into his chest pocket when someone from the squad came to check on him.

They chuckled at the teen, having seen what he had done, "A good luck charm?"

Sasori's brows rose slightly but he didn't answer just yet. He pondered on it for a while. Once he had thought of his answer, he looked up to reply.

"Yeah…a good luck charm."


	16. Puppet 16 - Extra 2

Porcelain

Puppet #16 - Extra

* * *

"Mama, who's Sasori?"

Eirin was broken out of her thoughts when her young son pulled her dress. "Huh…? Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

"Because you were saying his name just then." Her son sat down beside her.

"…I was?" Eirin tilted her head. The only thing she remembered doing was going through her memories. It did have Sasori in them, so she suspected she might have said his name by accident.

"Yeah, you were." He stared up at her with big eyes. "So who's Sasori?"

Eirin sweat dropped at her child – he was a very curious child.

She remembered the day in which Sasori just disappeared 20 years ago. She was only 15 then and thought that he had died, but that wasn't the case. He had gone and become a missing-nin. She didn't get to know his reason, but she heard from Chiyo that it was because he wanted to further his experimentation on human puppets.

Eirin glanced to the glass cabinet, where she kept the most valuable things to her. They might not have been valuable to other people, but to her, they were the most precious.

"Mama…?" Her son followed her gaze and set upon 3 puppets – two were the same but different sizes, and the other was of his mother.

"Sasori is a good friend of mine." Eirin answered with a smile.

"I haven't seen him before."

"No, you haven't. He left the village before you were born." Eirin rubbed her son's head.

"Just like Papa did?"

"…no, Papa was K.I.A. Sasori is still alive." Eirin murmured gently.

"Oh…" Her son's green eyes widened and he looked away, a small frown on his lips.

* * *

"You still have these?"

Eirin literally jumped 5 feet into the air. She was staring at the puppets in the cabinet, after she had put her child to sleep. She whipped around to face the intruder, feeling threatened.

"Who are you?" She saw a large body and face covered with a mask. They wore a cloak covered with red clouds.

The person seemed to chuckle, but Eirin saw no sign of laughter. She gulped when the person's body opened and somebody came out. She couldn't see the face properly, but she saw red hair.

"You don't remember me?"

Eirin froze in her spot, green eyes wide. She recognised that voice. Her lip quivered when she realised that her vision was blurring.

"You're…" She couldn't even finish her sentence.

"You're the same as I last saw you, Eirin." Sasori stepped out of the puppet he hid in, going to where she was. He looked into the cabinet and saw the puppets that he and Eirin had made were still there. They looked in good condition as well.

"Sasori…" Eirin whispered, staring at his appearance, "Why…why do you look the same as you did 20 years ago…? Where have you been?"

Sasori glanced at Eirin for a second, then back at the puppets. "I'm a puppet now."

"You're…a puppet…?" She breathed. "But…even if you are…you're a missing-nin now! What are you doing here? You'll get caught!"

 _It sounds like she doesn't want me to get caught?_ The red head glanced with an impassive expression, "I don't like repeating myself. Answer my question."

Eirin blinked at him, wondering what had happened to Sasori in all these years. She decided to answer his question, "I still have these because they're precious to me. It's as simple as that." She held a gentle smile while she answered him.

Seemingly satisfied with that answer, Sasori smirked and turned around, glancing over his shoulder, "Looks like you're the same." He went back into the puppet and disappeared, vanishing before Eirin's very eyes.

"What…was that…?" Eirin couldn't believe her eyes. She just saw Sasori, but it all felt like an illusion to her.

Warm tears fell down her cheeks and she covered her eyes – was it real? Did she _really_ see him?

But she wouldn't know, because that would be the last time she ever saw him.

* * *

 _Why do I even still have this?_ Sasori thought, staring at the small puppet of Eirin that she had made for him when he went to war. He still remembered when she had given him the thing.

He had paid her a visit not too long ago. She was doing well and still had those old puppets – something he didn't think she'd keep for an extended period of time.

 _She's almost like a living puppet…_ Sasori thought, remembering her appearance. Eirin was still the same as last time he remembered – except she was just taller and her hairstyle was different. _Maybe I should have made her into a puppet too…_ the Akatsuki member dismissed that idea. _No. The only exception is her._

 _It's been 20 years._ Sasori placed the small puppet into an empty slot inside his puppet body. He had been keeping it there for the past 20 years, where it was always on him for safekeeping.

He didn't know why it was so precious to him, but it was, and it didn't change, no matter how many years passed.

 _Eirin…the only part of the human me that can't be thrown away._


End file.
